A Friend In Need
by Obliterwrite
Summary: Agent 8 cannot remember much about her past, but she recalls one Octoling, someone she used to call friend. Having stopped the rogue AI Tartar, completed every test, recovered every Mem Cake and found a new life in Inkopolis, Agent 8 feels like she has no purpose left other than find this long lost friend and uncover her past. But what she uncovers might not exactly be pleasant...
1. Hunting the Past

**A/N: **As usual, Splatoon belongs to nintendo. Since this story happens after Splatoon 2, its take place two years after Splatoon 1 and one year after my previous fic Old Hatreds. If you haven't read Old Hatreds that's fine, I'm making sure to re-introduce the characters and places created in that story.

I hope you enjoy this fic as much as the last.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Hunting the Past**

There was so much ink left over from countless splashdowns.

No sign of any enemies anywhere.

Agent 8 couldn't believe it.

It felt like a dream…. No, this entire battle must have been a dream.

She had just bested a former enemy, a role model, a hero, but most importantly, a friend.

It didn't feel real.

Agent 3 had just suddenly manifested in front of Eight and attacked.

What happened before that? Eight could only remember the sound of a door opening somewhere in the metro…

Whether or not this Agent 3 was real, he was still a strong opponent.

To say it was a tough battle would have been an understatement, but Eight managed to pull through once again.

All that was left was a golden toothpick, curious, Eight picked it up, then suddenly felt herself being whisked away…

* * *

**Deepsea Metro**

"Where am I?" Eight asked out of instinct.

"Sorry, were you saying something?"

For a moment she saw no one, then she looked slightly downwards and noticed she was standing in a subway car of the Deepsea Metro.

CQ Cumber was lying just in front of her.

Maybe she interrupted him, because he had just asked if she said something and was waiting for a reply.

As if just waking up from a dream, Eight wasn't sure what had just happened, but she immediately regained her senses and said "No, nothing.."

She couldn't tell what expression CQ Cumber was making, he just tilted his head a bit and continued talking.

"Well as I was saying, it seems that despite multiple failures, you have completed every test available. Congratulations."

Eight then remembered why she was here.

She had been enjoying life in the Promised land… No, it was called Inkopolis…

A city of bright colours and wonderful people, she had made many friends, ranging from Off the Hook to Agent 3's acquaintances.

Life in Inkopolis was nothing but joy for her, yet it felt like it was lacking something.

Eight thought that maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was still missing bits of her memory.

So she returned to the Metro every now and then to take some tests.

At first, Off the Hook had been offering help, but for some reason, Eight would not recover any memories if she had help, therefore she believed and insisted to Off the Hook, that these 'tests' were something she had to face alone.

So every now and then, she had returned and completed each test and finding every Mem Cake on her own.

Now, two months after Tartar's defeat, it was finished.

Eight stared at the Golden toothpick in her hand.

If that battle with Agent 3 was a dream, things would make more sense, she did look up to him and did have dreams of becoming like him; a fresh and skilled Agent, who's purpose was to defend Inkopolis from the shadows…

Eight rolled the Golden toothpick inbetween her fingers as if to confirm its existance

That sudden battle with Agent 3 couldn't have been some strange daydream.

Unsure what to do with this toothpick, she just clipped it in her hair for the time being.

Then, Eight's cell phone rang.

"Ayo! It's Pearl! A.K.A MC Princess A.K.A Baroness of bars and you know the rest! Just callin to say congrats!"

"Huh? Wait how did you know?" Eight began, but she didn't need to finish her question.

"Did you forget Marina hacked into your CQ-80? You know, she'd always raise a fuss every time you went back to that subway!"

Another voice took over the phone.

"Of course! I was worried! Well I guess everything is fine now. Congratulations Agent 8! Now will you finally feel at home in Inkopolis?"

"What do you mean? Inkopolis already feels like home, it's all thanks to you and Pearl, Oh and Agent 3 and Cuttlefish…"

The list went on.

As Eight celebrated over the phone, CQ Cumber's blank face twisted in a strange expression.

"Well then… That concludes the task I was given, No matter what happened I remained loyal to my employer." he muttered.

Eight took note of this.

She wondered if CQ Cumber felt empty now that all the tests had been concluded.

Eight crouched next to him and said "Even if the tests are done, you'll always be conductor of the Deepsea Metro, and if you like, I could show you around the Promised Land."

CQ Cumber gently shook his head.

"Regrettably the Promised Land is not for me. You are right however, my place is here and I will always be conductor of this subway, that is my reason for being. Should you ever wish to retake a test I will be here waiting. But be warned, I will not make it any easier for you."

"When have you ever?"

"Correct… Well then, I believe your future lies in Inkopolis. Farewell Subje- I mean.. Agent 8."

"Hold on, before I go…"

Eight swtiched on her phone's camera.

"Smile!" She said, crouching next to CQ Cumber for a selfie.

CQ Cumber's face was expressionless as always, he glanced at Eight then at the camera.

Then he sprouted legs to get at least somewhat closer to EIght's height.

After that, Eight bid farewell to CQ Cumber, she left the metro, possibly for the last time ever.

She had gotten all the mem cakes, all the gear Iso Padre offered and completed every test available.

Doing so felt good, but more importantly it restored her memory…

Did it?

Eight tried hard, drawing an image of every Mem Cake in her mind, the shapes, the colours, the words aligning into rhymes…

Did she really recall her past life?

…

The answer was no.

She recalled serving in Octavio's army.

She recalled being chased by Agent 3, fighting him and getting knocked out.

But she still couldn't recall her name, or her life prior to serving in the army...

Her friends in Inkopolis kept calling her 'Eight' but according to the Octolings she had met, 'Eight' was not a common Octoling name.

The names of Octolings she had met did differ from Inkling names, but they were all names like: Victoria, Marina, Lynn and Eliza.

Nothing close to the name 'Eight' which had been a nickname derived from her number as a test subject.

As Eight walked through Inkopolis, the urge to return to the Metro was gone, she felt like the freshest Octoling ever, but the shroud around her memory had not been parted.

Not only that, but there was now a void in her mind, one which had previously been filled by the Deepsea Metro and it's tests.

Something that CQ Cumber had just said echoed in her mind.

'_My place is here and I will always be conductor of this subway, that is my reason for being.'_

He had already found his place and was content with it.

But what was there for Eight?

She did enjoy life in Inkopolis, but now that all the tests were gone, what was to be her reason to get up in the morning?… What was her purpose now?…

* * *

**Inkopolis**

Eight found herself awake early the next day.

It was normal for an Octoling to wake up earlier than an Inkling after all.

She had her own place in Inkopolis, as the city itself was so prosperous one didn't need to work much to earn a living.

In fact, many Inklings could live by themselves off Turf War earnings at the age of fourteen.

Eight did play turf wars, and sometimes would work for Grizzco as well, so she had enough income.

What she was still missing was purpose.

Eight wasn't sure how she could find one, though maybe a start could be finding the last bits of her memory?

Was that even possible? She had already collected every mem cake there was.

Unsure what to do, Eight silently lay in her bed, trying hard to recall anything she could about her past.

From what the mem cakes had revealed, she could remember serving in the Octarian army, she could remember the different types of Octarian.

She could remember that last mission she had; to steal technology for Octavio, she was intercepted by Agent 3 and Cap'n Cuttlefish and forced to hop into an abandoned subway station for cover.

What else was there?

Strangely she could not remember anything from before her time in the army.

'_No that can't be right, there has to be something…'_ Eight thought

She pondered hard, trying her best to recall anything from before.

For a moment nothing came up.

But then she recalled the Octoling mem cake:

Though parted by the ocean deep,

My oldest friend, we meet again.

I touch your face; you rouse from sleep

There was something more to that specific mem cake.

There were tanks of green liquid…

A song, that heavenly song from the Squid Sisters...

And… someone arguing with someone else? Over the promised land?

What was that?

Eight couldn't make much sense of it, but that was as far as her memory could go…

No wait, there was one more thing she could remember.

A friend.

She had a friend, an Octoling she was close to.

What happened to her?

She was a good friend, she was smart and she served in the Octarian army in Octo Canyon.

Realizing that time had passed and that the Inklings should be getting up by now, Eight got dressed and left for Inkopolis Square.

The memory of that friend still lingered.

Maybe if she could find her, it could reveal more about her past and maybe even her purpose.

'_Yes that's it, that will be my new goal!'_ Eight decided.

* * *

Eight glanced around Inkopolis Square.

Agent 3, or at least his friends should pass the time here.

If anyone would be willing to help her find this 'friend' from the past, it would be Agent 3.

Maybe Marina too.

And that would mean Pearl would join in.

What great new friends to have!

Being able to live on the surface world with them really made her struggles in the metro worthwhile.

'_Well, back to the task at hand, first off, find Agent 3.'_

Agent 3 had been spending a lot of time in the Deepsea Metro, apparently he had taken an interest in exploring the depths.

However he did come back to Inkopolis pretty often.

Looking around, Eight saw no sign of Agent 3.

She did see some familiar Inklings.

There was a bright green Inkling girl, as well as two Inkling boys, one red another cyan.

As she drew closer, the bright green Inkling noticed Eight and with a smile, she shouted and waved her over.

"Hiya Eight!"

Her name was Neon, a friend of Agent 3.

From what Eight had seen, she was always full of energy and seemed like a simple person, doing whatever she felt was fun. Usually, her definition of 'fun' involved some kind of battling and from what Eight had experienced, she was good at it too.

"Are you here for a rematch!? Or just passing by?"

"Just passing by, I think I've had enough duels with you for a lifetime."

"Awwwww… But you are actually better than Inker! It's so much more fun fighting you!"

"Gee thanks, but I really don't think Inker is that far behind, speaking of Inker, have you seen him?" Eight asked

Inker was Agent 3's real name.

It was a strange one by Octarian standards, as was the names of every other Inkling she met, but that was normal for two different races.

"Ehh, I dunno." Neon shrugged.

Then the red Inkling spoke up.

"Oh Inker, he said something about the Squid SIsters and went to Octo Canyon."

This Inkling was named Kalus, or Kal as everyone called him.

He had known Inker since they were kids, so the two were good friends. Kal was not like Agent 3, he did not like getting involved in dangerous things so he normally stayed in Inkopolis. However he was at least kind enough to step in if someone he knew well was involved and things got really bad.

Hearing Kal mention Octo Canyon, Neon was intrigued.

"Octo Canyon! Hey that's where the Octarian army is right!? Didn't the Great Zapfish go missing a while ago? Is that why he's there! Do you think there's gonna be a fight!?"

"Calm down you troublesome girl, Inker is just meeting the Squid sisters for something. Besides the Great Zapfish was already returned." The cyan Inkling said.

His name was Sky, unlike his friends he didn't play turf wars as much as them and was a relatively low level. Apparently he had the chance to meet with some Octarians before and was the first Inkling since the Great Turf Wars to learn the Octarian language.

Of course Octolings could speak universal, but other species like Octotroopers could only speak Octarian.

"So he is in Octo Canyon? But isn't that far from here?" Eight asked

"Not really, there's a shortcut to the canyon through a manhole over there." Kal said, pointed at the aforementioned manhole, just as two Inklings popped out.

"Oh, looks like they are back."

Eight could see Inker and another Inkling by the manhole.

This was a new Inkling she hadn't met before.

"Yoohooo! Inker over here!" Neon called out to the Agent.

Taking note of them, Inker and the second Inkling made their way over to the group.

The second Inkling looked younger than Inker, he wore a bright yellow vest that seemed to match the colour of his hair. He had a slick hairstyle and a headset that Eight had never seen before.

"Hey guys! You're all here? Don't tell me you were all waiting for me." Inker said.

"Nah, it's just Eight who was looking for ya! Well then Eight, there he is! Now i'm off to Ranked battles!" Wasting no time, Neon hurried towards the Deca Tower with a huge smile on her face.

"Perky as always…" Inker muttered "Well anyways, since you are all here I might as well introduce you all."

Inker gesture towards the yellow Inkling accompanying him

"This is Bough Humboldt, he's now Agent 4 o-"

"HOLD UP!" A voice interrupted Inker from across the square.

With a bolt of green, Neon came surging back, she grabbed Inker by the collar and pointed at Bough.

"He's Agent 4!? What about me! I told you and Cuttlefish that I wanted to be Agent 4! WhyWhyWhyWHY!?" Neon complained as she furiously shook Inker.

She had been trying to join the New Squidbeak Splatoon ever since she found out about it, since to her, fighting the Octarian army seemed like a lot of fun.

"Gurk.. Ask Marie not me! It wasn't my choice! I was busy with the telephone and the metro!"

Bough laughed at the scene before him

"You two seem close." He said

"Yeah exactly! Aren't we good friends!? What? are you secretly jealous that I fell for Sky so you didn't even consider me for the role of Agent 4!?" Neon added

"Who's jealous?! I already said it was Marie's choice! not mine!"

"Hmph fine, I guess I'll let you off this once, but I want in on any other fun stuff you guys are up to!"

"I can't begin to understand your definition of fun."

As Neon was complaining to Inker, Kal and Sky introduced themselves.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kalus but you can call me Kal, everyone else does."

"And I'm Sky Belhaim, that troublesome girl over there is Neon. Don't worry, you'll get used to her antics after a while."

Finally Bough turned to Eight.

"And you are?"

"Eight."

"Just Eight?"

"Well I think so… it's a bit complicated, but I can't remember my actual name."

"Huh, well that's… interesting."

"She's the Agent 8 I was telling you about." Inker interjected

"Oh! I heard about what happened in the metro! So it's thanks to you we still have an Inkopolis to call home!" Bough said.

"Heh, I mean it wasn't all me, I couldn't have done it without Inker and Off the Hook." Eight replied, flattered.

"Don't belittle yourself, I was out for the most important bit."

"But it was because of you that the Cap'n and I didn't get blended."

"Yeah, but it's thanks to you I'm here and not part of Tartar's hordes."

As Inker and Eight pushed the credit onto each other, Neon whispered to Sky.

"Look at that, Agent 'left on the shelf' took a page from Kal's book and set his sights on an Octoling!"

After eventually pushing the credit towards Pearl and Marina, Eight returned to her original topic.

"I have something to ask of you. See, I still can't remember much about my past. I can't even remember my name and I'm sure it isn't 'Eight'."

"If you don't like being called Eight you can always make a new name for yourself! You don't need Inker for that! It's actually much easier than you think!" Neon suggested

"Why does it sound like you're talking from experience?" Sky remarked.

Eight declined the idea.

"No thanks, it's not just about my name, rather I want to know more about myself, what did I do before I ended up in that metro? Who did I know from Octo Valley? What is my reason for being? Who am I really?"

"Well one thing I can say for sure, you're someone who could beat Inker in a fight! Trust me I'm an expert at that!" Neon said

"Oh I know that… I mean I kind of already…" Eight began

"No! Th-that one time in the metro doesn't count. I was losing my mind so it wasn't fair." Inker insisted. "Anyways, Eight, I understand you want to find out more about yourself, but where should we start?"

Neon whispered something to Sky, about Inker being a sore loser, while Eight considered Inker's question.

"Actually remember someone, a friend, another Octoling from before, maybe if we can find her she'll know more about me."

"An Octoling huh… Well I have no reason to head back to the deep so soon, I guess I should help. That's why you were looking for me right?"

Eight's eyes lit up.

"Yes of course! Thank you! I knew I could count on you!"

"Heh, no problem!" Inker said, feeling a bit flattered.

If they were going to search for an Octarian, why not start from the friender ones?

"Kal do me a favor, call Victoria and let her know Eight and I will be dropping by."

"Wait you are going to New Octopolis? If that's the case I want to come too!" Kal said.

"Umm actually, I was thinking the Octarian Army of Octo Canyon would be the best place to look." Eight suggested.

"The Octarian army? That means you guys are gonna fight them right?! They still hate Inklings so you gotta fight! So that means you'll need me to come!" Neon exclaimed

"We're not going to fight, I just want to ask if anyone can remember me." Eight explained

"Yes that's right, no need for unnecessary conflict… Hey you look worried. What's wrong Bough?"

At the mention of Octo Canyon, Bough was worried.

"I'm fine.. It's just that, well… Eight, if your friend really was part of the Octarian army, you should prepare yourself for the worst…"

"It's fine, I'm sure they won't hate me for leaving." Eight insisted

"Not that, just be prepared for bad news… Just in case."

What Bough said was pretty ominous.

He didn't want to say he might have splatted her friend while he was on a quest to rescue Callie and the Great Zapfish.

"So what's the plan? Are we just waltzing in to Octo Canyon and hoping nothing goes wrong?"

"Even if something does, we still have our hero suits, we can just respawn."

"Well, then there's no reason not to go. Bough you should be the most familiar with Octo Canyon, how about you lead the way."

"Yeah sure, I got it."

* * *

**Octo Canyon**

With no Zapfish and power eggs not producing enough electricity, Octo Canyon was starting to look like what Octo Valley was two years ago.

A place battered and falling into disrepair.

Whatever remained of the Octarian army should still be around here.

Inker, Bough and Eight went from lair to lair, but so far each one was abandoned and unpowered.

"Man, you really cleaned this place out." Inker noted.

"I can't say it was easy." Bough replied.

Since all the lairs appeared to be abandoned, Inker wondered if there was a city hidden somewhere further into Octo Canyon, just like with Octo Valley.

"Eight, does any of this look familiar to you? Do you think maybe you can recall a place the Octarians might have run to after their defeat?" Inker asked.

Eight thought hard, trying to recall her time in the Octarian army.

It was much easier than recalling anything before that.

She remembered holding an Octoshot, wearing standard issued gear.

Two different types of music in her head, one felt welcoming the other felt forceful.

At the time she was at a place known as…

"I got it, follow me." Eight said.

Just barely able to recall where she had been before abandoning the Octarian army, Eight led her two new Inkling companions to an elevated part of Octo canyon.

There was one more kettle up there, it was surrounded by walls with dirty water running down them, it almost resembled a medieval fortress.

Eight pointed towards the fortress.

"That is the appropriately named Last Bastion. The Octarians who are not part of the army reside in the kettle lying within those walls."

From what they could see, many Octarian soldiers patrolled both the walls and the area around the fortress.

Since Eight, Inker and Bough could see the Octarians, it was obvious that the Octarians could also see them.

They could see their numbers increasing as more Octarians came rushing out of the kettle.

The sight of any Agent would have been a cause for alert, all three of them together was a top level emergency.

After all, both Agent 3 and Agent 4 had been able to beat them in the past, who knows what destruction both could bring if they worked together?

Eight had no reason to fear these Octarians, but she was worried about her friends.

Bough looked nervously at the mass of Octarians gathering before them, Inker was not nervous at all and was much more composed.

Knowing that a fight might ensue, Inker shed his more friendly demeanor and readiled himself.

Just like in the Deepsea metro, he would look stern and focused.

Eight thought it was pretty cool how quickly he would go into 'Agent mode' but now wasn't the time to watch in awe.

With Agent 3 on her right and Agent 4 on her left, Eight approached the Last Bastion.

As they got closer they could see the nervous expressions of the Octarian army.

They had no power, no Great Octoweapons and no DJ Octavio.

One brave Elite Octoling stepped forward and raised her Octoshot.

"That's far enough! Inklings and traitor!" She shouted

Following her lead, the surrounding Octarians readied their weapons.

Octosnipers turned their turrets towards the three, Octotroopers placed them in their sights, Octolings held up various weapons and Octobombers hovered, ready for an attack run.

Bough recoiled in fear for a moment, but he composed himself quickly.

With an unwavering voice he said, "Unless you are looking for a fight, you should lay down your weapons, we are here for something else."

"Hey isn't that a bit too pushy Agent 4? But he's right, we aren't here to fight." Inker added

The tension between them and the Octarian army didn't subside in the slightest.

Eight even moved her hand towards the Octoshot on her back, just in case someone opened fire.

"What else do you want then? We have no Zapfish, no prisoners, and barely anything else. Or do you intend to squeeze us dry?" the lead Octoling asked.

"No! Not at all! We want nothing of the sort, right guys?" Eight quickly explained

Inker and Bough nodded in agreement.

"Then what do you want?!" The Elite Octoling demanded

"I just want to know if anyone here recognises me."

"Recognises you?"

"Yes, umm actually I don't remember much about my life before I left the army, but I remember I had a friend and I want to meet them again."

"If someone like that exists, I doubt they'd be willing to step forward now." the Elite replied

"Hey, if you don't want to help, we have other ways of finding what we want to know!" Bough threatened.

"Easy there Agent 4! What is the matter with you?" Inker said, he could already see the Octarians tense up.

He had only met Agent 4 a while ago, but he seemed really friendly in Inkopolis, while he was a bit nervous on the topic of Octo Canyon, why was he suddenly like this?

The Elite Octoling sighed

"As much as I hate to admit it, the Octarian army is in no condition to fight… We'll comply, but just this once." She turned towards the fortress behind her, facing all the Octarians who had gathered. "Well?! Does this Octoling look familiar to any of you?!"

There were some muttering among the Octarians.

A few stepped up for a closer look at Eight but they shook their heads and turned back.

Others even muttered names

"Alicia?" one Octoling said,

For some reason, Eight could recall that name, it wasn't hers but maybe she heard someone say it once before.

She looked at the Octoling hopefully, but the Octoling took a closer look and said "Nevermind."

In the end, nobody recognised Eight.

"Well then, that settles it." the Elite Octoling said.

"What about the Octarians in the kettle?" Bough asked

"No way we are letting any of you inside the Last Bastion."

"Yeah you're right, it's fine, we're good. Right Eight?" Inker asked

Eight wasn't sure, she still hadn't found her missing friend, but he knew that there wasn't any possibility of them entering the Last Bastion.

Besides, only civilians lived there.

Bough did say to prepare for bad news…

"... Yes, we are good." Eight said

Eight, Inker and Bough left Octo Canyon shortly after that.

"You know, we could check Octo Valley. The Octarians not loyal to Octavio anymore have set up their own city there called New Octopolis." Inker suggested

Eight shook her head, "I remember seeing her in Octo Canyon before our fight in Octo Valley. If she isn't there, then I don't think I'll be able to find her."

There goes her best shot at finding her friend, past and purpose.

Eight looked down,

She wanted to find that friend.

What more did she know about her?

Eight thought hard.

What about that name 'Alicia' which seemed familiar?

Was that her name? Or maybe her friend's?

...

No, it wasn't.

Her friend had said the name before, but she was sure it wasn't either of theirs.

She hit a dead end already.

With no other leads, Eight, Inker and Bough returned to Inkopolis.

Sighing, Eight found a seat in Inkopolis Square and sat down, resting her cheeks on her hands.

Inker gave her a pat on the back and took a seat beside her. "Hey Eight, don't feel down, sure we couldn't find your friend, but that doesn't necessarily mean you won't see her again."

'... You're right I guess... But what now? What am I supposed to do?" Eight asked

"Well, this is Inkopolis, what do you want to do?"

"I want to find my friend."

Inker realized he probably could have said something better.

"Well sorry, but until something else pops up, why not just enjoy Inkopolis? How about we attend an Off the Hook concert, or maybe a Squid Sister one! Callie is back after all and I know you love the Calamari Inkantation!"

"That… would be nice."

Bough overheard Inker's suggestion and had another idea.

"I didn't know you were a fan of the Squid Sisters, but if you want to see them why wait for a concert? I'll call Callie and Marie over right now!"

"You can do that?"

"Of course! Did you forget Marie is the one who made me Agent 4 in the first place. Give me a sec, i'll be right back!" Bough said

Eight was starting to feel a bit better.

The Inkantation was such a wonderful song, now she had the chance to meet the pop duo behind it!

"We're meeting the Squid Sisters huh? Well I'd bet Kal and the others would love to see them again. I'll bring em over too."

This was quickly becoming quite a gathering.

Eight stopped worrying over her past friend and now thought about Pearl and Marina.

"Is it fine if Off the Hook shows up as well?" she asked

"Of course! The more the merrier right?" Inker replied.

All three agents were now calling different groups over.

It was soon turning into a party.

Bough returned from Octo Canyon with Callie and Marie in tow.

Inker brought Kal, Neon and Sky over from the Deca Tower.

Finally Marina and Pearl arrived.

First there was the greetings.

Marie seemed somewhat on guard around Eight a first, but Callie was much more open.

Marie should have been looking out for Neon, because as soon as she saw her, Neon did the same thing she did to Inker earlier.

"I thought we were charger buddies! Why didn't you make me Agent 4!? I've already proven that I could take on the Octarians before haven't I!?"

Marie struggled to speak while being shook by Neon.

"Gurk… I did try to get your attention, but you always ran right by into the Deca tower."

"What?! Try harder next time! Shout my name!"

"That's way too conspicuous… urf… Hey Sky! Would you kindly reign in your rabid hound of a girlfriend!?"

After that Sky managed to get Neon off Marie.

Then, Neon, Kal and Sky had their first time meeting Off the Hook in person.

Later they moved on.

Since they were already in the Square, Neon suggested they all play a few rounds of turf and they did.

After some Ink Battles, Cap'n Cuttlefish got wind of this surprise gathering but Neon, Pearl and Callie decided to leave him in the dust.

Soon the group went to a place called the Sushi den, where they all had some catching up to do over dinner.

Marie and Bough told their story of rescuing Callie from Octavio.

Neon had a tale about some old champion of Turf Wars making a brief return.

As for Eight, Inker and Off the Hook, they of course had their adventure through the metro to talk about.

Finally, by Inker's suggestion, the group celebrated Eight's completion of all the Deepsea Metro's tests with a toast to a brighter future.

After that, there was the night scene of Inkopolis, bright lights of all colours lined the skies.

It wasn't called the city of colour for nothing.

Since Eight followed an Octoling sleep schedule she often misses these sights.

Everyone had their own favorite spot to bask in the sight of an Inkopolis night.

Neon showed Eight a calming place on a hill overlooking the ocean and the sunset.

Pearl had a mansion ordonned with lights to show off.

Callie showed them an arcade district with flashy lights and loud noises.

Inker and Kal then brought the group to Inkopolis Plaza, where alot had happened before.

By the end of the day, Eight was tired but happy.

Instead of worrying over an old friend, she could enjoy her new ones.

They were all such interesting cephalopods.

The kind Marina

The boastful Pearl

The energetic Callie

The snarky Marie

The hesitant Kalus

The wild Neon

The quiet Sky

The energetic Bough

Finally the compassionate Inker.

They were all there for her.

After a wild and rowdy day, Eight fell asleep easily.

She would forget all about searching for her old friend.

Until a few days later…

* * *

**Octo Canyon**

A cloaked figure bolted through the manhole and into Octo Canyon.

A single zapfish glowed and squirmed in it's arms.

Under her cloak, one could see the shine of Octoling armor and the glow of Octoling goggles.

There was no doubt this intruder was a thief for the Octarians.

It wasn't long before Cap'n Cuttlefish caught wind of what had happened and alerted Inker and Eight, who were in Inkopolis Square just as the thief entered the manhole.

Callie, Marie and Bough noticed the thief bolt by them in Octo Canyon too.

Worried that this might be an attempt to restore power to the great octoweapons, Cuttlefish had Agent 3 and 8 chasing after the thief, while Marie had 4 going with them.

Inker and Bough each had their Hero Suits on, Hero shots in hand and running after the thief.

They were keeping up with them, but having trouble keeping up.

Luckily EIght was faster than both of them.

She bolted ahead, having stolen things in a similar manner back when she worked for the army she could guess when the thief would try to make a turn to shake her off her tail.

Inker and Bough watched as Eight tackled the cloaked intruder to the ground.

"Wow she's fast! How can she move so fast wearing heels?" Bough said in awe.

"It's a mystery for sure."

Inker and Bough approached Eight, who was struggling with the zapfish thief.

Even though she was pinned down, the thief did not want to let go of the zapfish.

"Wou…. you just! Let go!" Eight said as she struggled with the thief.

"No! I won't! Wait a second...that voice…. Could you be Alicia?"

With one arm firmly around the stolen zapfish, the thief removed her cloak and Octoling goggles, getting a good look at Eight.

"It is! It really is you!" she exclaimed.

Eight was shocked.

Not because this Octoling claimed to know her, but because this Octoling matched the face of that friend in her memories.

"You're! Uhhhh…" Eight tried hard to recall her name.

"Did you forget? Can you not remember my face?" the Octoling asked

Eight tried, but just like before she couldn't recall it.

"... I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten."

"Did you hit your head or something?"

"Actually I did."

"Oh, well.. At least you remember me... don't you?" the Octoling asked

Eight stared deep into this Octoling's eyes.

She was indeed a very familiar face.

"Oph… something." Eight muttered.

It was coming back, she could remember another name.

"Ophelia." the Octoling corrected for her.

That was all Eight needed.

She remembered this Octoling.

Ophelia, a combat medic from her time in the Octarian army.

But most importantly, the friend from her memories.

"I… I remember!" Eight exclaimed, full of joy.

Dropping her Octoshot, EIght embraced her long lost friend.

But as she did, she felt the stolen zapfish squirming between them, and soon recalled what she was doing here in the first place.

In a panic, she backed away from Ophelia, then remembered Inker and Bough were there with her.

"It seems like you know Eight. As a friend of a friend I'd like to ask you to return that zapfish." Inker said.

Recognising Agent 3 and 4, Ophelia had a look of fear in her eyes, she glanced down at the zapfish and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I need this zapfish, I promise I'll return it later, for now could you please let me go?" she asked

"No way, I'm not risking you powering up any of the great Octoweapons again!" Bough said

"This isn't for the Great Octoweapons! It's not even for the army."

"Who is it for then?" Bough asked

"That… I can't really tell you, but I assure you it's not for the Octarian army." Ophelia said.

"If you can't tell us, that just makes it more suspicious!"

"Calm down Bough, well he's right though, we can't just let this go if you aren't willing to tell us why you need this zapfish." Inker said

"I can't! I just can't."

"If you don't hand it over we'll have to take it back by force!"

"Bough what the heck is wrong with you?!"

Eight watched as Ophelia stepped back in fear of Inker and Bough.

What should she do here?

Ophelia might reveal things about her past, but Inker and Bough was right, they couldn't let her go without knowing what that zapfish was needed for.

"Eep!… B-but I don't have a spawn point nearby." Ophelia squeaked

"Then you better hand over that zapfish." Bough insisted.

"Forget him, listen nobody needs to get hurt." Inker said.

However both he and Bough had their hero shots in their hands.

Ophelia looked terrified.

She glanced at Eight, as if calling for help.

That was too much for Eight to take.

The moment Inker and Bough stepped towards Ophelia, Eight muttered "Sorry Agent 3."

"Huh?"

Before any of them could react, Eight raised her Octoshot and shot the two agents in their backs.

Finding out about her past meant too much too her.

Ophelia was startled by the sudden sound of shooter fire, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw only Eight standing in front of her.

"... Thank you." she said, collapsing to her knees

Eight didn't reply.

She acted on instinct and immediately regretted her actions.

She looked down at her hands.

What had she done?

Would they hate her for this?

She felt someone's arm around her, giving her a pat on the back.

It reminded her of Inker's kindness, but this time it was Ophelia comforting her.

"I know that was tough on you. But you did the right thing. You can't let friends splat innocent Octolings."

Eight stood up.

Maybe she could finish this mission alone.

"I still can't let you take the zapfish without knowing what it's for." she said.

"Ahh, that's fine. Did you forget? We've known each other for years! I trust you, forget just telling, I'll show you what I need it for myself. Please, come with me."

Taking her hand, Ophelia led Eight deeper into Octo Canyon.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the manhole in Octo Canyon, Inker and Bough respawned.

Noticing they had no Zapfish with them, Callie and Marie hurried over.

"4! What happened?"

"You failed didn't you?"

Bough wasted no time in explaining.

"It's not our fault! Eight double crossed us! Tell everyone Agent 8 has gone rogue!"


	2. Enhance Existing Life

**Chapter 2: Enhance Existing Life**

"Tell everyone Agent 8 has gone rogue!" Bough insisted

Callie looked surprised while Marie didn't, perhaps she expected such a thing due to her distrust of Octolings.

Inker on the hand hand looked very annoyed

"THAT'S ENOUGH! What in the world is wrong with you Bough!?"

"Me? I… I'm just telling the truth." Bough seemed to shrink back a little in the face of Agent 3.

"The truth!? This is your fault! Not Eight's!"

"B-but Eight shot us in the back."

"That was only because you were being so damn aggressive! Couldn't you tell that was the friend Eight was looking for all this time?"

"Of course I could, but she had the zapfish."

"We could have just talked it out! She had no weapon and stopped trying to run once she saw Eight."

"S-sorry, I didn't realize that." Bough apologized

"Why are you so aggressive whenever you are around those Octarians?"

"W-well, I was suddenly given the role of Agent 4 and the Octarian army was terrifying, so I had to learn to be more forceful around them."

"He had a rough start in Octo Canyon, you know the Octarian army has gotten much stronger since you've fought them." Marie explained.

"So I've heard… Maybe I should have gone with Neon instead…" Inker muttered

Neon was a wild one, but from past experience fighting in Octo Valley together, Inker at least knew she could control herself when the time was right.

Why did she pick Bough instead of Neon in the first place?

"Don't look at me, I told you four could be a bit rash at times." Marie added

Oh well, no use grovelling over mistakes.

"Do you remember which way we went?" Inker asked

"No, I was so busy chasing that Octoling that I didn't keep track."

This meant they couldn't catch up with Eight now.

"Huh... Guess we can only wait for Eight to return."

* * *

**Hidden lair, Octo Canyon**

Ophelia took Eight far from the manhole and Inkopolis.

There was a kettle hidden in a cliff face near the border between Octo Canyon and Octo Valley.

Ophelia approached the kettle and gave it a few hard knocks.

It struggled as it was low on power, but it eventually opened.

"You remember this place don't you?" Ophelia asked

Eight glanced around her, this area looked no different from the rest of Octo Canyon so far "Uhh, not really."

"Well you should in a moment, come on!"

The two Octolings entered the kettle.

Eight found herself in darkness.

She could barely make out Ophelia's figure in the dark.

"I need to plug this zapfish in quickly, I'll be right back." Ophelia announced

"Wait, how can you see in this darkness?"

"Oh i've been here for so long I've pretty much memorized this whole lair, I don't need to see to get around here. Be right back!"

Eight heard Ophelia's footsteps echo in the lair, until it became too soft for her to hear.

She still couldn't see anything.

She had no idea where she was.

This feeling of cluelessness, surrounded by mystery, was similar to when she first awoke in the Deepsea Metro.

Eight never liked being a test subject, but back she had a purpose; to reach the promised land.

Perhaps since this darkness felt so similar to her beginning in the Metro, a new purpose for Eight would reveal itself shortly after, just like before.

Suddenly the lights flicked to life.

Eight was temporarily blinded by the sudden brightness, when her eyes readjusted she realized she was standing before a huge building.

There was a strange symbol of what appeared to be an eel on it.

She couldn't recall seeing it, but it felt familiar, it almost felt like home.

Ophelia came running back shortly after.

"So? Look familiar?"

"Not really, but it does feel like I've been here before…"

"You have, how could you forget? Well a lot has changed since you left, I guess it's only normal… I've plugged in the Zapfish, come on, I'll show you around, maybe that will jolt your memory."

Eight followed Ophelia into the building.

"I remember you being a medic in the army, what are you doing here alone?"

Ophelia looked at her with a surprised gaze.

"Well I used to be, but Octavio put me in charge of a special project. So I'm more of a scientist now."

Eight could recall bits of Ophelia mentioning some kind of project before.

She could also recall helping…

No wait, she was a soldier right? Eight remembered serving in the army, so why does she remember helping with some sort of science project?

'_Hold on, I thought I was a soldier, why would I be helping a scientist? Who am I even?'_ Eight wondered.

Perhaps now would be a good time to ask.

Just as Eight was about to open her mouth, she saw another familiar sight.

Glass tanks full of green liquid… Just like the ones she remembered.

Actually more like giant test tubes or a vats in a laboratory, that's probably what this place was.

Floating inside, was something that looked like an Octoling.

Eight gasped.

Was Ophelia conducting experiments on Octarians?

"What's wrong?" Ophelia asked

Eight suddenly felt nervous.

She didn't like the idea of live Octarians being used as test subjects, especially since she had been one herself.

Instinctively she found herself going for her Octoshot, then she recalled how Inker and Bough did the same and spooked Ophelia, so she brought her hand back.

"Umm… it that.. Is that a?" Eight stuttered

"It's an Octoling." Ophelia answered

Eight was in shock.

Is this what Bough meant by 'be prepared for bad news just in case' so her friend from the past was not a good Octoling?

Eight couldn't imagine what awful tests and experiments this Octoling had to go through.

"W-w-what are you doing to her?" Eight asked

"Hmm? Oh don't worry, she isn't alive." Ophelia said.

"Then what happened to her?"

"What do you mean? Wait hold on, do you not remember project E.E.L?"

"No I don't, I remember these glass tanks clearly, but what is project E.E.L?"

"Ahh that explains why you look so nervous, don't worry this isn't a real Octoling." Ophelia explained

'_Huh? Did I just see… No wait forget about that, this isn't a real Octoling?'_ Eight wondered

"Just curious, what do you remember about me?" Ophelia asked

"Not much, I just remember you being my friend, someone I trusted with my life. I think we were part of the same squad in the army?"

"Hmm… Well then, it looks like I have a lot to explain. What about yourself? What do you know about yourself?'

"Not much, I just know I was part of the Octarian army. I can't even remember my name. You called me Alicia earlier, is that really my name?" Eight asked

"Yes it is. You must have hit your head real hard to forget something like that."

"...Strange." Eight said

"Huh?"

"I remember the name 'Alicia' but I don't remember it being my name… I remember you calling someone else by that name before…"

"There's more than one Octoling with that name you know."

"Oh right, of course! What was I thinking haha!"

"Well then, I guess I should start from the beginning, come there's alot for you to see."

Ophelia led Eight away from the glass vats and further into what was definitely a lab.

There were many more tanks full of green liquid, some had more Octolings in it, others had strange blobs of flesh, then there were some that were completely empty.

Ophelia led Eight to a door labeled 'security' inside were several more doors, each one numbered differently.

Ophelia opened one of them, revealing a small room with a bed and a desk.

"This was your room, you were part of the security team here." Ophelia said

"Security? But I was a soldier." Eight couldn't recall being just a simple lab guard nor this small bedroom.

"We both were." Ophelia continued "Like you said we were part of the same squad. But Octo Valley was getting worse each day. It was rumored that our race would go extinct soon, so I had a proposal: project E.E.L. Octavio approved it and I was made head of the project, since you and I were close back then, Octavio made you head of security here."

"I see."

That would explain why she could recall this building and the tanks of green liquid, but not being a security guard.

She could have been a soldier assigned to guard duty, simple as that.

"Umm, what is project E.E.L anyways?" Eight asked

"I was just getting to that, come, i'll show you."

Ophelia led Eight back to the glass vats.

She showed her another Octoling floating inside one of them.

"This it, Project Enhance Existing Life, or E.E.L. In order to prevent our extinction, we were trying to come up with a way to stop Octarians from dying."

Eight's first guess was that it was something related to spawn points.

But she had been tasked with stealing Inkopolis' respawn tech before, did Ophelia not know?

"Umm, you know, we have respawn points now, so it really isn't that much of a problem anymore." Eight could barely bring herself to say it, how hurt would her friend be if she found out someone had beaten her to respawn technology?

"I know that, project E.E.L isn't meant to just respawn Octarians." Ophelia explained

She pointed at the Octoling body floating in the tank.

"It's called 'Enhance Existing Life' for a reason, we don't respawn someone, we give them a new and improved surrogate body. After all, even though we can respawn when splatted, but we can't avoid things like death by disease, age, and other natural causes, nor can we respawn if our bodies were too badly damaged before being splatted. Project E.E.L would allow us to take on a new body when we respawn. Older Octarains could even choose to become young and beautiful again instead of staying old and dry. This could eliminate death completely!"

"That is wonderful!" Eight exclaimed

This project could not just save millions, but it could literally wipe the concept of death off the face of existence.

"I've had some problems, but it's coming together nicely, sadly I haven't heard from Octavio or the army in a while and then the lab ran out of power, so I had to go steal a Zapfish from Inkopolis. I'm still sorry about that, please give my apologies to Agent 3 and 4 when you have the chance."

"Don't worry, Inkopolis has plenty of Zapfish, as long as it isn't being used to destroy Inkopolis I don't think they will mind."

"Are you sure? You know there are terrible rumors surrounding the New Squidbeak Splatoon, they say they are ruthless and don't ever forgive. I'm worried that they might come for me."

"Don't worry, I only just met 4, but I know for certain that Agent 3 is a kind and compassionate Inkling!" Eight assured her friend.

"I guess... if you say so..." Ophelia still looked worried.

Her encounter with Inker and Bough must have been a scary one.

"Well I'm glad to have you back!"

"I'm lucky to have found you."

"Since you lost your memory, do you want to see the progress we've made?"

"Sure! Wait.. we?"

"Heh, You might have remained a soldier, but you helped with a lot more than just security. That's probably why you remember these test vats so clearly."

Ophelia walked over to a table and picked up a big pair of scissors.

"Alright, now hold still, I just need to cut a piece of your hair…"

"Wait, won't that make an Octotrooper?"

"I'll just cut the tip off one of your tentacles, don't worry."

Eight felt Ophelia hold up her hair, then there was a quick snipping sound.

She felt the tentacle which was now missing a decent part of it and watched as Ophelia began chopping the severed tentacle to pieces.

She then went over to an empty vat and dropped a piece inside.

"There we go, now give it a few hours and it should begin to take shape, in the meantime…"

Ophelia showed Eight a console attached to the vat.

"You can make changes to the body here while it is still in development." Ophelia explained

"What kind of changes?"

"Well it's your second body… Anything you want, your skin tone, your eye colour, you can even change the body to be a boy."

Eight glanced at the console.

It showed an estimation of what the final result would be floating in the green liquid.

At the top of the screen was written the words 'Who am I?'

As Eight turned her attention to the console, Ophelia had other things to take care of , so she left Eight to herself.

The console presented Eight with two options

'Girl' 'boy'

The girl looked just like Eight did, the boy's face looked similar, but his eyebrows were larger and he only had a single tentacle for hair, running down the center at the top of his head.

Apparently that is what Eight would have looked like if she were a boy…

Well no reason to go that route right now, Eight picked the girl option.

The boy faded away and was replaced by another question

'My skin is…'

There was quite a selection of skin tones to choose from, but instead of choosing from a spectrum they were all a set colour..

Once again Eight didn't have a reason to go wild experimenting, so she picked her own skin tone, a natural beige colour.

The next question 'My hair is…'

Why that option was even there, Eight didn't understand, you could change your hairstyle anytime.

But why was there only two options?

It was only her current hairstyle plus a ponytailed one, does that mean she could never grow her hair to be like Marina's or those of regular Octoling soldiers?

Eight checked the pony tail option.

For some reason it reminded her of Agent 3, he had something similar right?

Maybe in Inkling society ponytails were more suited for boys?

Eight kept her normal hairstyle.

The next question 'My eyes are…'

Once again Eight was shown a variety of preset colours.

She could even choose to have red eyes which she was pretty sure wasn't a natural eye colour.

Eight's orange eyes had been pre-selected and the estimated result Octoling on screen now had her eyes wide open so Eight could see the colour of her iris.

Eight considered just leaving everything as is, but once again Agent 3 came to mind.

She wondered what she would look like if she had blue eyes like Agent 3…

Oh well, it wasn't such a big difference anyhow, Eight picked blue eyes and was then asked one final question.

'Is this me?'

What a strange way to ask a question.

The options now were: 'I'm not sure…' and 'Yeah!'

It felt strangely familiar, maybe she had done this before...

Eight selected 'Yeah!' and the console faded to black before switching to a screen monitoring the development of the Octoling inside.

Eight looked up inside the vat at the tiny piece of her tentacle floating inside.

Would that really become a full sized Octoling in just a few hours?

Also how would she transfer herself into that body once it was done?

'_Best to ask Ophelia' _Eight decided, but when she turned around, her friend was gone.

Eight wondered where she had run off to, maybe she had other things to do?

"Ophelia?! OPHELIA!" Eight called out, but nobody replied.

Eight didn't know where she went, nor did she know the layout of this lab, but it was only Ophelia here, so there was no danger.

She decided to explore on her own.

The lair was lined with glass vats, they were all filled with green liquid but many of them were empty.

There were some occupied by what seemed to be Octoling bodies already developed, though they were just floating around lifeless and unused for some reason.

Some vats were much larger in size, perhaps some Octarians wished to have a huge surrogate body?

Other vats only had little bits of organic material, as small as the piece of tentacle Ophelia took from Eight earlier.

Eventually the long row of vats ended and Eight found herself passing the security living quarters again.

She entered and looked around.

It still didn't look familiar, but it did give off a homey feeling.

Maybe she had lived here before and forgotten since it was unimpressive and plain compared to her apartment in Inkopolis.

Speaking of Inkopolis, Eight realized she had been gone for quite some time now.

She hoped Agent 3 wouldn't be too mad about her splatting him, she had only done it because she knew they would respawn thanks to their hero suits.

Eight decided to at least check in with the New Squidbeak Splatoon, just to be safe.

Unfortunately, her phone had no reception down in Octo Canyon.

She didn't have one of those Hero headsets that Inker and Bough used to keep in touch with Cuttlefish and Marie either.

All she had was the CQ-80, but that was linked to Marina of Off the Hook, who probably had no idea what was going on at the moment.

If she did, she'd probably be busy with Pearl doing a news segment on the zapfish theft first, though it was only one zapfish so it's disappearance might not even be worth broadcasting.

Actually Marina did somehow know that Eight completed all of Kamabo corp's tests so maybe she could be watching now?

'_Oh wait! What about the chat logs?' _

Eight figured that if Marina and Pearl could see and hear her now, maybe they would be trying to contact her by sending a message within a chat log.

Checking her CQ-80 Eight found that no new logs had been added since Tartar's defeat…

With a sigh, Eight kept on looking for Ophelia.

Where could she have gone?

Maybe somewhere by the lair entrance?

Eight backtracked to the start, this time she could pay more attention to her surroundings rather than just Ophelia and the giant vats.

She quickly noticed that the long row of vats actually branched off into two separate paths.

Ophelia must have gone down the second route.

Sure enough, Eight could soon hear Ophelia's voice from behind a door down the hall.

Maybe she was speaking to somebody? No, there was no other voice.

Ophelia was saying something about feeding and was whistling to someone or something.

Eight opened the door and gasped.

Ophelia stood there, feeding fish to what appeared to be a hungry horde of deformed Octarians.

There were Octobombers with four wings and a bloated and saggy body.

Disgusting looking Octolings with ink drooling from their mouths as they lay on their backs and ran around using their hair, which was much longer than usual.

Octotroopers with extra tentacles which seemed to lack legs and dragged itself around with it's tentacles.

What in the world was this?

Ophelia heard Eight's gasp and looked at her face.

Eight was pale.

The Sanitized Octarians at least still looked Octarian.

These…. Things... were nothing close.

Ophelia however didn't looked worried in the slightest as she tossed more fish at the creatures snapping their mouths at her.

"W-what is this?" Eight asked, trembling once again.

"They are… Well…. What is left of our first attempts at giving surrogate bodies to the deceased." Ophelia explained.

"Wait what? But… why are they like that?"

"Well they weren't meant to be that way, but the surrogate bodies didn't seem to last very long outside their tubes."

Ophelia sighed.

She looked sad for some reason.

"Does that mean, project E.E.L was a failure?" Eight guessed, if someone spent their life on an experiment only to have it fail, it would only be natural for them to be sad.

Ophelia shook her head "No, E.E.L is actually on the verge of success, these were just the first few who volunteered…"

Eight saw her friend's eyes twitch in a strange fashion, then a tear came out.

Ophelia pointed at one Octoling, which was crawling up the wall using it's hair as if it were spider legs.

"Some of the ones here, like her, were once our co-workers you know?"

"Wait really? But why are you experimenting on them?'

"We weren't. Well not at first, but you know how Octo Valley was in such a bad condition back then, that accidents would happen all the time? Well they were some of the unlucky Octarians who's life was cut short by the valley."

Eight knew about this, Octo Canyon was at risk of a similar problem due to the lack of resources.

"We thought maybe we could bring them back… But well… That happened. I can't bear to think about what their life has become, wandering around like a mindless beast, but I can't bring myself to dispose of them either, so I can only keep them here…" Ophelia explained.

Eight understood.

These weren't just failed test subjects, but rather an early and desperate attempt at saving some Octarians who had perished in one of Octo Valley's many accidents…

"Wait… You mentioned co-workers, but then why is it only you here?" Eight asked.

'Well… " Ophelia motioned for Eight to follow her.

They left the area full of strange creatures and Ophelia headed for what seemed to be her personal quarters.

Ophelia went over to a desk, pulled open a drawer and fumbled through it, until she found an old Octarian phone.

"... There were more of us working on this project, but then we heard this…"

With a few presses of buttons, the phone played a low quality but still audible recording of the Calamari Inkantation.

It jogged Eight memories a bit more.

Not the song, but rather the poor quality of the audio.

She had heard it before.

"After that battle with DJ Octavio, most of us just wanted to leave, eventually civil war broke out in Octo Valley and everyone just kinda saw it as a chance to leave, so they did." Ophelia said.

"What about me?" Eight wondered

"I think you had been retasked by then, I'm not sure why, but they moved you to Octo Canyon."

"Oh, I see… But why did you stay?"

"Well I could have left but… Don't you think it's a bit unfair?"

"Hmm?"

"Even if we have different opinions, the Octarians who still side with Octavio are still Octarians. Just leaving them in the decaying underground lairs just isn't right."

Eight agreed, sometimes she had also wondered about the other Octarians still living under DJ Octavio's rule.

A few other Octolings she had met shared similar opinions.

"Besides, if E.E.L is a success, then I'll have something to benefit both the underground lairs and Inkopolis too. I don't want to just show up and expect to be accepted." Ophelia continued. "Also… I'm a bit worried, are the Inklings really that accepting? I mean we did have that war 100 years ago, plus DJ Octavio has stolen their zapfish twice now… Wouldn't it be safer if I made myself an Inkling body first?"

It seemed like Ophelia was still a bit nervous about Inkopolis.

But if she had been listening to the Calamari Inkantation, then she was probably telling the truth about no longer working for the Octarian army back when Inker and Bough confronted her.

That would explain why she wasn't present at the Last Bastion lair.

Eight comforted her friend.

"You really don't need to be an Inkling to live in Inkopolis. I assure you it's a really great place and everyone is really nice. If you want I can take you back to Inkopolis and introduce you to everyone."

"Thanks but… I don't want to leave my work behind, I've already made it this far, I'll meet you back on the surface when the time is right." Ophelia said.

She didn't want to leave her life's work behind, Eight could respect that.

It was kind of similar to how CQ Cumber would never leave the Deepsea Metro.

"Well, at least I know what happened to you and I know a bit more about myself too. Thanks." Eight smiled

Ophelia smiled back, but then she came to a realization.

"You're leaving already?"

"Of course!"

"But why? I know you had forgotten almost everything, but you are just going to leave me here?"

"Well…."

What reason was there to leave early?

Eight didn't recall any urgency in Inkopolis, it was just the same schedule each day.

It wouldn't matter if she left… right?

Eight noticed Ophelia looking sadder than ever.

She must have been lonely, spending each day working on a science project alone for who knows how long.

'_I guess it wouldn't hurt if I stayed a bit longer…'_ Eight decided

She approached Ophelia

"On second thought, Inkopolis isn't going anywhere. Maybe I could stay for a bit longer."

Ophelia's face lit up.

"Thank you Alicia!"

'_Alicia? Right.. That's my real name… is it? I mean Ophelia said it is and it did sound familiar. Well it's better than 'Eight' I guess'_

Eight decided to refer to herself as Alicia from now on.

In response to this friend, who was teary eyed over her decision to stay, Eight hugged her and assured her she wouldn't go anywhere.

Ophelia said that Alicia once provided security for this lair, while also helping her out as a friend.

She would do that again.

It was her newfound purpose, after all and everyone needed a purpose.

Perhaps she could get more of her memory back as she worked alongside Ophelia.

Alongside her friend from the past, Eight, now known as Alicia, begun to observe the glass vats containing what was going to be the final product of Project Enhance Existing Life.

She couldn't understand much of it at first, but Ophelia was there to explain everything.

Once this project was complete, maybe she could take Ophelia back to the promised land with her...

* * *

**Octo canyon**

Eight had been gone for a whole day.

Nobody in the New Squidbeak Splatoon had heard anything from her

Inker was here in Octo Canyon to ask Bough, Callie and Marie if she heard anything, but as expected they had not.

Inker wondered what could possibly be keeping Eight away.

As far as he knew, it didn't take an entire day to reconcile with a lost friend.

Things might not be as bad as he thinks, but just in case he should go look for her.

Inker stared into the horizons of Octo canyon.

"What are you doing?" Marie noticed Inker with a suspicious gaze towards the canyon.

"We still have a zapfish to rescue, now we have an agent to find as well, let's get to searching." Inker suggested

"Are you sure Eight wants us to find her?" Bough asked.

"Of course! We have too, we still need to retrieve the Zapfish after all."

"But like you said, that Octoling was Eight's friend. Couldn't we just wait for Eight to return on her own?"

Bough had a point.

Inker knew that Eight likely panicked and splatted them on instinct. She didn't actually turn against the New Squidbeak Splatoon, which means she might not be returning out of shame.

But this still didn't sit right with him.

"Eight's been gone for a whole day… Now that I think about it, don't you find it a bit too convenient that Eight's supposed friend shows up out of nowhere only days after Eight tries looking for her?" Inker explained.

"That's why I didn't trust her in the first place! Plus she was obviously wearing the same stuff all enemy Octolings wore." Bough replied

"Yeah but you still shouldn't have threatened her like that! Now we are going to have a much harder time finding them."

"Go easy on the kid, would you?" Marie cut in "Even if he messed up, he is still someone capable of beating Octavio."

"Yeah I get it, I'm going to look for Eight. Are you with me or not?"

Wasting no time, Inker swung back towards the canyon.

Bough watched him walk away, he glanced back at Marie for a second then went after Inker.

It was partially his fault that Eight was left alone with that supposed friend of hers… It only made sense that he'd try to help find her.

"Wait! Are we really going to search the whole canyon?" Bough asked, catching up with Inker.

"You're coming?"

"Of course! I promise I won't make the same mistakes."

"Alright then. Don't worry I'm not planning to search the whole canyon…"

Inker already had an idea, though after thinking for a moment perhaps Bough's aggressiveness in presence of the Octarian army could be useful.

"You know what, you might have to get a bit forceful again for this next bit."

* * *

**Octo Canyon**

Inker and Bough had returned to the place Eight showed them before.

The Last Bastion of DJ Octavio's Octarian civilization.

Despite feeling regretful over his poor handling of their previous mission, Bough was told by Inker to keep his aggressive stance towards the Octarian army.

"Hey, I'm trying hard to reflect on what I did wrong, now you're telling me to make the same mistake again?" Bough rebutted

"There's a time and place for everything. Just trust me on this, I am the most experienced of all the agents after all." Inker replied

"Didn't Callie and Marie start before you?"

"Aaaaanyways! We are going to put on a straight face and demand the remnants of the Octarian army to help guide us through the canyon."

"So we are just walking right up to them? What if they attack us?"

"Unless there is another Acting Leader Octavia leading them I think they will be fine."

Octavia was the name of a previous Elite Octoling who led the army after Octavio's defeat.

She despised Inklings and did everything she could to provoke Inkopolis into war, even with Octo Valley on the verge of collapse. Though she didn't even care about Octavio or the future of the Valley, she just wanted to be the new leader of the Octarians.

Inker hoped that whoever led the Octarian army now was more reasonable than that.

Just like last time, the Octarian army reacted quickly to the sight of Inker and Bough approaching.

They must really be on edge seeing how badly they had been beaten before.

Bough was nervous, he remembered his first encounters with the Octarian army being really scary.

He was just someone who had begun his journey into ink battles, when he saw some strange beauty waving at him from inside a manhole.

His curiosity got the best of him and before he knew it, Marie suited him up and dubbed him Agent 4.

The Octotroopers he first met were creepy, those wide eyes staring deep into him were something of nightmares.

The Octocopters and Octo Oven were no better.

Then there were the Octolings, who fought like pro turf players. He had let his guard down at first, seeing that they looked kinda like Inklings. But they were still soldiers, trained to splat him.

Bough lost two lives fighting the first Octolings before they started toying with him as he was so pathetically weak then.

Bough shuddered at the memories of that time.

He lost lives left and right and had to constantly repair and restore the Hero suit until he finally decided to put on a tough front and fight with all his might.

He couldn't let anyone see how nervous he was, otherwise they'd take advantage of him again.

Inker on the other hand was much more calm and composed, he had seen and fought more than enough for two lifetimes and wasn't fazed by the Octarian army anymore.

Seeing how calm Inker looked, Bough hid his nervousness and put on a much more serious face.

He had to be forceful with these Octarians, that was what he learned from his time in Octo Canyon.

Like last time, an Elite Octoling came out to meet them, while the rest of the Octarian army stood by in large groups, ready to pounce on a moment's notice.

To Bough it was pretty intimidating, to Inker he just thought it was a good target for a splashdown.

"What do you want?" the Elite demanded

"You know what we want. Give us back our Agent and our Zapfish!" Bough replied

This time Inker didn't try to stop him.

They already knew the Octarian army didn't have the Zapfish, but there was no need to tell them that yet.

"If you're looking for Zapfish you're in the wrong place. If you looking for a whopping however, you can stand right there." The Elite said as targetting lasers from Octosnipers were trained on Bough and Inker.

While Bough was now even more frightened, he was used to hiding it by now.

He wasn't shaking in his shoes and he kept his stare on the Elite Octoling, doing his best to ignore the white lasers in between his eyes.

Bough had to answer a threat with one of his own.

"Very cute, splatting us here ain't gonna stop us. But you're welcome to try, we are taking our Zapfish and our friend back one way or the other."

Bough and the Elite Octoling stared holes into each other.

Inker, watching from the side, grinned just a little bit. But he also had to be ready, they didn't know what the Octarian army's leadership was like now that Octavio was gone again.

He held his Hero Shot in both hands, ready to shoot on a moment's notice.

This also had the effect of further pressuring the Octarians.

Though Bough was also under quite a bit of pressure.

Bough was actually an energetic and friendly guy, this tough act didn't suit him at all.

That's why Inker hadn't been expecting it the first time they met the Octarian army.

Of course, the Octarian army didn't know Bough, they just knew him and someone who beat all their great Octoweapons and their army on his own.

The Octarian army on the other hand, was significantly weakened now that they had no leader, no Zapfish and their machines were running on Power Eggs.

However, like Bough, they couldn't just show themselves being weak, that is why the Elite Octoling was here to put up a show of strength.

Neither Bough nor the Elite Octoling would avert their gazes from each other, though Bough couldn't really tell as the Elite's eyes were hidden behind her goggles.

Who would crack first? Bough, or the Elite Octoling?

Bough was doing his best, trying not to let cold sweat start dripping down his face.

In this case however, the Octarian army believed they had more to lose than Bough and Inker did.

"If we really had any zapfish, do you think we'd greet you with only regular troops?" the Elite finally broke the silence.

"Then who else would it be? We both saw an Octoling running off with a Zapfish in hand." Inker said, drawing attention towards him and giving Bough a chance to breathe.

"Well why don't you ask your good friends in Octo Valley?"

"We would, if the zapfish hadn't been brought to Octo Canyon."

"We had nothing to do with that!"

"Then I suppose there is no reason to keep us from looking around is there?"

At that, the Octarian army stiffened.

"Forget it! We aren't letting you pass, no matter what." the Elite declared.

"Why not? What are you hiding in there?" Bough said with a scrutinizing gaze.

"You think we will let Inklings into the only habitable place left in Octo Canyon? Get real, we are still enemies."

"If you won't let us, there are other ways we could get past."

"I've already told you, we have no Zapfish."

"And I don't believe you, like you said, we are enemies."

"Grr…"

Despite their advantage in numbers, the Elite Octoling getting much more pressure from Inker and Bough.

She felt that if an all out battle was to break out, more Agents from Inkopolis would probably arrive. Or maybe even an Inkopolis army…

Maybe even the New Octopolis Octarians, who no longer supported Octavio would jump in.

Quietly, the Elite gulped and tried to think of some other way around this situation.

Of course, Inker already had something in mind.

"Who's charge here? I'd like to speak with them."

"That would be Acting Leader Erica Bowes." The Elite said

"And where is she?"

"You're looking at her."

"Well that's convenient."

"Like I said we have no Zapfish. We might be low on power but I never ordered any raids on Inkopolis."

"Well if you insist, then I bet you'd know some other places in Octo Canyon we could check."

"What? Haven't you checked all the other lairs?" Bowes asked

"If they had a zapfish, they'd be powered. But all of them are still dead, well the ones we are aware of at least."

"So you think we have it? Well you're wrong, there much more to Octo Canyon than you know. We'll show you where the other kettles are hidden in Octo Canyon, but only because there is no reason for us to fight. Got it?!"

Bowes made a series of gestures to which the nearest Octoling reacted to by snapping to attention and hurrying off into the Last Bastion.

"Deal, I have to say you're much better at this than Octavia." Inker remarked

"Pfft, Octavia was a fool who just wanted to be on top. And don't try to flatter me, as soon my subordinate comes back. I want you all long gone from here!"

"Of course, if we find our missing zapfish we won't need to come back."

"Then just this once I'll wish you luck."

As they stood, waiting for the Octoling to return, Inker wondered what other information they could get from this Elite…

He did catch Eight's supposed real name right? What about her friend's?

"Do you know anything about an Octoling named Ophelia?" Inker asked

"You'll have to be more specific than that. We have hundreds of Ophelias here."

"How about one that isn't here?"

"What would I know about some traitor?"

"Is there anyone you know named Ophelia, who was part of the army but left?" Inker could recall Eight mentioning that her friend was from the army.

The Elite scratched her head.

If she was to avoid endangering the survival of Octavio's loyalists, she had to at least recall something to satisfy Agent 3.

"There was a medic turned scientist with that name, though she vanished around the time when Marina Ida, Cathrine Blake and a handful of other well known individuals deserted as well."

"What about Alicia?"

"Once again, be more specific!"

"Someone mistook Agent 8 for an 'Alicia' last time we were here, did they not?"

"There are alot of Alicias here… Though now that you mention it…. There was an Alicia who appeared to be good friends with someone named Ophelia, they were quite noticeable considering how making friends is discouraged within our society."

"What happened to her?"

"That Alicia also disappeared, we assumed she deserted the army as well."

Finally, the Octoling came running back with a small USB key in hand.

She gave it to the Acting Leader, who tossed it over to Agent 4.

"There, that should show you every other kettle in Octo Canyon. Now get out of my sight!"

* * *

**New Octopolis, Octo Valley**

After their encounter with the Octarian army, Inker and Bough returned to Inkopolis, but only for a brief moment.

Inker took Bough to a bus headed for Inkopolis Plaza.

In the meantime he called Kal and told him to let a certain someone know he was coming.

Bough overheard all this and was confused, but still followed Inker as he brought him into the manhole to Octo Valley.

They passed by familiar places as Inker led Bough back underground.

"I'm guessing this is supposed to have some kind of map of Octo Canyon on it?" Bough wondered, holding the USB in his hand.

"Yep, I figured since we haven't heard from Eight yet, she must be pretty far into Octo Canyon. So I figured we might as well try and get a map of al the kettles you haven't explored."

"You know, it wouldn't be unlikely for the Octarian army to try and remove certain lairs they don't want us knowing about."

"That's why we aren't going back yet. Ever been to New Octopolis?"

"No I haven't."

"Well, that's it" Inker said, pointing at a city in the distance. "And that's where we are going."

Bough looked at a bright city in the distance.

Unlike Octo Canyon, that city actually looked like a habitable place.

It was brightly lit, the buildings seemed properly maintained and the streets were bursting with activity.

Though it was much smaller than anything in Octo Canyon.

Bough wondered what could possibly be living here, to his surprise it was also populated by Octarians.

They even had an army of their own, Bough felt a bit nervous as a patrol of Octolings marched by the outskirts of the city.

They were wearing an older model of Octoling armor and goggles, they also had magenta ink and red tentacles looking just like the Octolings he had fought in Octo Canyon.

However, the Octolings here had a different shade of red, unlike the bright scarlet red of the Octolings from Octo Canyon, the red of the New Octopolis Octolings was a darker crimson, while their ink was a brighter magenta compared to the dark magenta of the Octarian army.

A few Octolings here recognised Inker and waved over to him as they passed. Inker waved back.

When they entered the city, there were more Octarians of various colours, many of them recognized Agent 3 and greeted him, while he greeted them back.

"You seem quite popular here…" Bough said, with a slight hint of envy.

"Well a lot happened down here. To be honest I don't even recognise this place anymore, but at least the Octarians still remember me." Inker explained "To think the Undercity would change so much… At least Nautilus base hasn't been moved."

"Nautilus base?"

"It used to be the Octarian Army's largest military base here, until the New Octopolis Octarians took it over."

"I get it, so the Octarians here are the ones who don't want to follow Octavio, but don't want to live in Inkopolis either."

"Yep."

Inker and Bough tried their best to navigate through New Octopolis, but it was difficult since the city had changed so much since Inker was last here.

Plus all the street signs were written in Octarian.

Inker knew which direction Nautilus base was, he just didn't know how to get there.

"Uhh… I hate to say it, but I probably could have planned this a little better." Inker admitted.

They would walk in the right direction but would soon find themselves at a dead end and have to turn back.

Before they knew it, they were lost.

Luckily for Inker and Bough, someone else had been looking for them ever since they heard from Kal that they were coming.

Well this person wasn't the one Kal contacted, rather she was someone who wouldn't skip the chance at what could be considered another adventure.

"Hah!"

Out of nowhere, Neon leapt down and wrapped her arms around the two Agents.

"What is this Inker? Didn't you promise you'd let me know if you were doing more fun stuff?" She said

Neon not only had her usual Turf War gear on, but she had both her Custom E-Liter 4k and the now outdated Custom E-Liter 3k slung across her back, she was also wearing the spare Hero Headset Cap'n Cuttlefish had given her the last time she wanted to fight the Octarians.

"Neon? How did you know we'd be here?"

"I heard it from Kal, so I rushed over here! By the way what is taking you so long?! I was waiting at Nautilus base for almost a whole hour!"

"I uhh…"

"He got lost." Bough said

"Pfft" Neon snicked "You really got lost!? Hahaha! I can't believe it! You can fight an army of Octopi but can't navigate a city!"

"How did you even find your way through all this?!" Inker asked

"Did ya forget how we did it before? I had Sky guide me through."

"Sky is here too?"

"So is Kal, and Cuttlefish and Off the Hook and pretty much everyone, we are all worried about Eight ya know!"

"Everyone is there huh… Well then we should hurry."

"No need! I always leave Squid Beakons around don't I? Just hang on, we'll be at Nautilus in no time!"

With that Neon tightened her grip on the two agents and prepared for a super jump.

"Urk…. Ne-Neon!"

"I- I can't brea-"

"Oops, sorry!"

Neon quickly ran her arms under Inker and Bough's shoulders as she had been accidentally choking them before.

Like Neon had said, they were quickly brought to Nautilus Base.

Inker and Bough found themselves inside a heavily fortified compound.

"What are ya waiting for? Come on!" Neon hopped enthusiastically, while Bough was busy looking around."

"Right, I need to see Victoria." Inker agreed

Victoria was one of the Octarians who rebelled against Octavio but didn't move to Inkopolis.

She was still serving as a soldier here.

"Well, looks like your land legs aren't as quick anymore." Cuttlefish commented as Inker finally arrived.

Everyone else had already been there waiting.

Well almost everyone.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting, I ran into some uhh…. Complications."

"You got lost didn't you?" Victoria commented

"Why do you think that?"

"The same thing happened before right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Meanwhile, Bough looked around but saw no sign of the squid sisters.

"Where's Callie and Marie?" he asked

"Yeah didn't you say you'd tell them?" Kal added looking at Cuttlefish.

"Hmm, oh yeah! I think Agent 2 was grumbling something about 'Cal put those damn shades on again!' and said she wasn't coming."

"Oh I think I know what's going on…"

Bough wondered if he should go help, but that same event had happened so frequently that Marie started becoming adept at dealing with it alone.

Plus he had to apologize to Eight and her friend once they found her.

"Anyways we need a computer, Bough give me that USB." Inker said

As Inker had guessed the Octarian army had indeed supplied them with a map showing the locations of every single kettle in Octo Canyon as well as detailed information on what the lair within contained.

"That's a lotta ground to cover, are we really supposed to find Eight with this?" Neon asked

"Well not really, this is just the first part." Inker turned to Victoria. "This base used to belong to the Octarian army, so do you happen to have any older records of Octo Canyon stored in Nautilus base?"

"You know I'm just a normal soldier now, I'm not sure if they'll just hand that kind of stuff over to me…"

"Are you sure? You did lead the New Octopolis Army before." Kal pointed out

"That was only because everyone wanted me to do it."

"Then there's no reason they'd stop you now."

"I get it, I'll go ask around."

Victoria left for a while and soon returned.

"You're right, we do have a map of Octo Canyon stored here, come with me."

Victoria led the group to a room filled with screens.

This used to be a mission control room for the Octarian army.

Victoria brought up both the old and newer map of Octo Canyon side by side.

"Wow, looks like Octo Canyon has changed a lot." Victoria noted

There were much, MUCH more kettles on the newer map compared to the old one.

"I've been here already.. And here… and here…" Bough pointed out all the kettles he had already discovered

"Alright! I get it! Stop showing off!" Neon complained

"Huh?"

"She's still mad over not being picked for Agent 4, ignore her." Sky explained

Moving on, Inker was repeatedly glancing between the two maps.

"Is all this really necessary? I mean come on, Eight just found an old buddy, it's not like she's been kidnapped or anything." Pearl commented

"I thought so too, but don't you find it strange that we haven't heard from Eight all this time?"

"Who knows? Maybe their throwing a rad party and Eight's too busy having fun."

"It's only one friend from Eight's memory, not exactly something to party over."

"Well who knows, hey Marina, do Octolings throw partes when they meet up with old friends?"

"I'm not sure, because of how dangerous our cities had become, we were discouraged from making friends under Octavio's rule, so I find it odd that Eight has one." Marina explained

"All the more reason to find her." Inker insisted.

He looked back at the two maps.

If they were to cross out all the ones Bough had been too, that leaves them with around five kettles on the old map and seventeen on the new one.

"Hey don't just stare! Tell us what's on your mind!" Neon insisted, though Inker tuned her out, figuring Sky would control her later.

Eight's supposed friend…. Ophelia was it? She said she wasn't working for the Octarian army and she didn't run in the direction of the Last Bastion.

They had to be somewhere deep in Octo Canyon for them to be unable to reach Eight, even through her hacked CQ-80.

So cross out all the lairs close enough to Inkopolis, that would include all those Bough already found.

Bough also suggested that the Octarian army might have omitted some kettles from the map.

That is why Inker had an older map side by side, if there was a lair hidden on the new map, hopefully it would show on the older one.

Inker looked at both maps again.

Without counting the ones Bough discovered, there were five unexplored kettles on the outdated one and seventeen on the new one.

However looking closer, thirteen of the kettles were only listed on the new map, four were listed on both….

And one kettle was only listed on the old one…

"There!" Inker said, pointing to the specific lair. "That is where we are going."


	3. Rogue Eight

**Chapter 3: Rogue Eight**

"That is where we are going." Inker said.

The kettle he had pointed out was the one drawing most suspicion as it was apparently omitted from the new map of Octo Canyon.

Whether or not it was omitted on purpose had yet to be revealed.

Though this did make the theory the Ophelia actually was still working for the Octarian army more plausible.

They had to get moving right away.

"What do you know about that lair?" Inker asked Victoria, the only active Octarian soldier present.

"Not sure, but if we have it on record then there should be something about it lying around."

"Go do some digging then, Bough and I will get going immediately, hit us up over the Hero headset once you find something!" Inker declared

"Hey! You are leaving me behind again!?" came a loud voice.

"Neon, this is serious you know."

"I know! But serious can also be fun! Aren't you going exploring in Octo Canyon?! You better not leave me behind again!"

"Again?"

"You went to the Deepsea metro and fought those zombie things right!? That was my idea! I wanted to do that!"

"It's not that simple! Besides I almost died!"

"Meh, that's never turned me away from anything."

"It's a miracle you're still here."

"What do you mean!? It's no miracle! it's skill! SKILL! Apologize for assuming I'm all luck!"

Inker finally relented after once again being pounced on by Neon.

"Alright! Alright! I get it, you can come with us! Let go of me!"

"Yay!" Neon let Inker go and happily skipped off to the side.

"I think I should go too." Victoria added

"If you're going, I will too." Kal volunteered as well.

"Now hold on, this was supposed to be up to Bough and I." Inker explained.

"You say that, but Eight is an Octoling. As one myself I feel like I could understand her a bit better than you." Victoria pointed out.

"If that's the case, shouldn't Marina be joining us too?"

"No thank you, I'm done with fighting, but I will be helping out from here as best as I can." Marina said.

"Yeah! Leave it to 'rina and me!" Pearl added.

"I'll be staying here as well." Sky said "I can read Octarian so I think I'll do some research on that lair."

In the end, Inker and Bough were now joined by Victoria and Neon.

Kal wanted to join them once he heard Victoria was going, but Victoria convinced him to stay and help as a mission control, alongside Cuttlefish, Off the Hook and Sky.

And so, a rescue team of four set off to hopefully find their missing Agent 8.

* * *

**Project E.E.L lab, Octo Canyon**

Eight rapidly grew accustomed to this place.

Although she could not recall ever working on project E.E.L working alongside Ophelia felt nostalgic, as if she had done so before.

Well it had only been a day, but it felt much longer and Eight felt relaxed here despite not seeing it for who knows how long.

She took it as a sign that this was indeed her place.

Though she should check in with everyone else sometime, as much as she felt at home here, she also missed her new home in Inkopolis.

As well as Off the Hook, the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Agent 3's friends…

Maybe they could get her a Hero headset of her own and they could remain in touch even when Eight was all the way down here.

The only thing somewhat bothering her was her name.

The name 'Alicia' grew quickly on her, but now that she had retaken that name she was feeling something else relating to Ophelia.

She could remember Ophelia being a good friend, being trustworthy, smart, caring…

But now that Eight was calling herself 'Alicia' she suddenly felt a slight bit of unease.

What was that?

Perhaps it was simply because Eight knew that the New Squidbeak Splatoon was most likely worried about her well being and are probably searching for her now.

'_Yes that had to be it.'_ Eight decided.

But her instincts were not in agreement.

Though she assumed it was because of how bad her memory loss was.

Eight continued to help Ophelia in any way she could.

"All these subjects appear to be stable." Eight said, taking notes from the consoles of various test tubes containing what were quickly becoming Octoling bodies.

Ophelia looked over what Eight had written and nodded in agreement.

"Hmm… Did you make any adjustments to one of them?" she asked.

"Oh right, the one you used as a demonstration, I just changed the colour of her eyes a bit."

"Oh, well that should be no problem."

Eight was only doing minor tasks such as monitoring the development of bodies and feeding the crazed Octarians.

They were a bit creepy at first, but Eight wasn't bothered by it that much, not after Ophelia explained how they were before being put into those failed deformed bodies.

It made them more sympathetic, unlike the sanitized Octarians who were strung together from various blended Octarians.

Eight could understand why Ophelia would not get rid of them.

Ophelia even singled out two deformed octolings, who sped around moving on their backs using their tentacle hair instead of their legs.

"These two were part of my research team once. Their names were Ava and Ana, two twins who, despite being in the same field, were pretty different." she explained. "Ava was always stern and always firmly stood her ground when she had a point, while Ana didn't have her twin's self confidence and was much quieter."

"They were our friends too?" Eight asked

"Yes, though Ava always got on your nerves." Ophelia laughed

Since all the Octarians previously used for testing project E.E.L were those killed in accidents, these two probably met a similar fate.

Though Eight would not question how they died, she didn't want to stir up unpleasant memories.

When they had time, Ophelia asked for details about Eight's adventure through the deepsea.

"How do you know about the Deepsea metro?"

"Everyone knows about that place, a forbidden area where all who enter never return. When I heard that you had taken shelter inside the Deepsea Metro whilst trying to escape Agent 3, I thought you were gone for good."

"Well I had a few close calls."

Eight explained everything she could remember.

Waking up to an old squid staring her in the face, riding the subway and taking tests, meeting Off the Hook, finally the crazed A.I developed by some extinct race.

And when Eight explained the Sanitized Octarians to Ophelia, her brow furrowed.

"Ten thousand and seven test subjects before you failed… All Octarian." She muttered

"I can only hope that without Tartar, they can finally rest in peace."

The unethical experiments of the telephone really seemed to bother Ophelia.

Almost as if someone had opened a door to something they should never have seen.

"Thank goodness you made it back. Without you this project would have died already."

"Gee… I'm not doing much…"

"But it's thanks to you that those two Agents didn't splat me already."

"About that… I don't think they would have actually done it."

"Well it doesn't matter, i'm thankful for your return, it's really helping me and this project."

Ophelia had a genuine smile on her face.

She was not lying after all, too her, Eight was a big help.

Eight however wasn't sure why.

She assumed Ophelia was just lonely and was glad to find company again.

When she finished this project, Eight planned on bringing her back to Inkopolis and searching for all the other Octarians they once knew.

'_Yes, a new goal for me!'_

Eight finally had more to do. She could already imagine the sweet reunions ahead when Ophelia finally finished with project E.E.L.

What a great future to look forward to.

Just outside the lair, Inker, Bough, Victoria and Neon approached.

"Why are you bringing two E-liters?" Inker asked Neon, who had brought two whole sets of gear with her.

"Why not?"

"Isn't it heavy carrying all that?"

"Not really, I normally wear weighted clothes anyways."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well it's fun! When you get used to being heavier than you actually are, then suddenly go back to wearing normal clothes you feel like you can fly! Wheee!"

Neon had an E-Liter 4k custom in her hands, while her previous E-Liter 3k custom was slung across her back.

She was the only one among the group carrying two weapon sets.

That also meant she had both the old Kraken special and the Bubble Blower too.

Meanwhile, Inker and Bough's hero shots had no special, but had a larger variety of bombs available for use.

Victoria used a blaster after getting the chance to try one during the recent Octarian civil war.

Though she didn't use an Inkopolis manufactured one so she had no special weapon either.

And unlike Inker and Bough, who wore hero suits, Victoria and Neon's equipment didn't give them the ability to respawn should they be splatted too far away from any respawn points.

This wasn't too much of a concern, Neon was one of the best ranked players in Inkopolis despite her personality and Victoria was a trained Octoling.

If he was honest, Inker would say that Bough was most likely to be splatted out of the four.

Before long, the group came across a kettle hidden in a cliff face.

Unlike the other kettles they passed earlier, this was powered up.

That meant there was a zapfish inside.

"Alright! Finally! I've been bored outta my mind with all that walking! Let's go!"

Inker quickly grabbed Neon by the hair and held her back.

"Ow!"

"Hold on, before we go in, let's check if the guys back at base as found anything about this place." Inker said.

"Okay, but make it quick!"

"Hello? Mission control, you find anything about this kettle yet?" Inker asked, knowing that the Hero suits he and Bough wore would allow them to communicate with their friends back in Nautilus base.

'Yo! Pearl here! 'Rina and the others are still searching. How bout you take a look inide and we'll get back to ya?"

"Okay."

Inker readied his Hero shot and checked to make sure all his bombs were accessible.

"Let's go guys."

"Right."

Hopping inside the lair one by one, the group found themselves staring at a brightly lit lab.

Exchanging glances Inker, Bough and Victoria advanced carefully….

…. Until Neon ran ahead and they all had to chase her…

The first thing they saw was the large glass vats of green liquid.

Despite the liquid begin more more translucent and a darker shade of green compared to Tartar's goo. The Sanitized Octarians were the first thing that popped into Inker's mind.

"What is this place…" Bough wondered

"Ooooo, first a kettle hidden in a cliff face, then a huge row of suspicious looking tubes! How exciting!" Neon exclaimed.

Inker and Victoria both shot her a glance.

"Is she always like that?" Bough asked

Both Victoria and Inker nodded simultaneously.

The group advanced, before long they spotted what seemed to be an Octoling floating inside a vat.

"What is this?!" Victoria exclaimed, not expecting to see one of her own kind stuffed in a tube.

"I knew something was off about that Ophelia!" Bough scowled.

"Is she alive?" Inker asked.

In response Neon tapped on the glass a few times, then she shouted "Hiya!" trying to get the Octoling's attention.

When none of that worked, she tried to climb the tube, only to find that it was covered.

"What are you trying to do Neon?" Inker asked

"What do ya think? I'm gonna break this Octoling free!... Somehow."

Unsure how to operate the console on the vat, Neon resolved to hitting it really hard with one of her E-Liters.

"Whoa ok, let's not break anything just yet. Remember we are here to find Eight." Bough reminded

Neon, looked up as if suddenly recalling why she was here to begin with and went "oh right!"

Then she glanced around.

"Hey hey hey! I hear something over there! Let's go!" Neon said, pointing at a fork in the long row of vats.

She led them down the rightward path and through a door.

And right into the area where Ophelia had been keeping the deformed Octarians.

Neon had been hearing the random grunts and noises they made now that they were not exactly intelligent creatures anymore.

The deformed Octarians, stared over at the uninvited guests.

At first, they did not move, but then a moment later they pounced.

The legless Twintacle Octotrooper used it's tentacles to propel itself forward.

The bloated four winged Octobomber spat dangerous amounts of ink out of it's mouth.

The crawling Octolings moved like spiders on their tentacles crawling up walls and onto the roof as well.

It looked like a scene straight out of a horror film.

Bough stared in horror, Inker stood shocked wishing that Eight was not one of these… 'things' and Victoria looked in disgust.

"Those things… Can we even call them Octarians anymore?"

As for Neon she stared at Inker with anticipation.

She was probably waiting for him to say 'go ahead' so he did.

"Yay!" As if unbothered by the grotesque forms before them, Neon cheerfully splatted the Octobomber.

Victoria started blasting the Octolings crawling on the walls, Bough was rapidly dodging the Octotrooper and Inker took on a second Octobomber.

They did not know for sure what was being made at this strange lair, but now they had a pretty good guess.

'_I have to hurry up and find Eight!'_ Inker thought, quickly hopping between patches of his own ink, dodging enemy ink while popping up now and then to fire back at any of the mutated creatures.

Neon was having a blast, her usual style consisting of using Squid Beakons to keep her opponents at great range which only the E-Liter was capable of attacking from.

She squealed with delight as she hopped away from an approaching Octoling before picking it off.

Bough was well, not doing too good.

The Octotrooperlike creature trying to throw itself on him was far creepier than a normal Octotrooper.

And from what he had seen so far, these things didn't seem very friendly.

He ran around trying not to get hit, while firing his Hero Shot with one hand, eventually splatting a few creatures.

Victoria, being trained, didn't get affected much by the sight of the deformed looking Octarians, though she still felt disgust when she remembered that someone had to be behind all this.

She had it easier as none of the creatures seemed to target her, so she blasted away at them, taking care not to accidentally hit any of her friends.

All this made quite a racket.

Down the leftward path, Ophelia heard the noise.

She quickly hit a few buttons on some of the occupied vats, they were then safely secured and covered by a layer of metal.

Seeing her friend in a panic, Eight asked "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Ophelia said, "give me a moment."

She and Eight hurried over to the security room, ignoring the living quarters Ophelia hopped on a terminal and quickly pulled up live footage from the room Inker and the others were in.

She gasped at the sight of Inker, Bough, Neon and Victoria splatting the deformed looking Octarians.

Eight saw this too.

"N-now hold on, I'm sure there is some misunderstanding!."

"I told you! I knew they would come for me!"

"Where are you going? Wait!"

Ophelia hurried back to the previous room, she double checked that all the vats were secure, then she moved on.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm locking the place down! I'm not going to die here!"

"Calm down! Please just let me talk with Agent 3 first!"

Ophelia ignored Eight and soon the lair found itself in darkness.

* * *

**Octo Valley**

"I think I've found something."

"Let me see."

"This is the kettle, Agent 3 and Victoria went to. Right?"

"Yes it looks like it, thank you Lynn."

Kal, with the help of Sky, Marina and some other familiar Octolings, had found some old documents in the Octarian army's former base of operations concerning the Ophelia's kettle.

Bringing it back to the mission control room, they saw Pearl laid back scrolling through her phone.

"Yo! Find anything?"

"Yes we did, how is Inker and the others doing?" Kal asked

"Lets find out. Hey old tim-"

"AGENT 3! AGENT 3 RESPOND!" Shouted Cap'n Cuttlefish, cutting Pearl off.

In response, the others all hurried over to him.

"What's wrong?" Kal asked

"I dunno, I bet somethin' is meddling with communications cause we just lost Agent 3 and 4's Hero suit cams."

"Can they still hear us?"

"Probably not."

"Let me have a look." Marina said, quickly checking all the machines and also using her own laptop to try and reach any of the two Agents.

"Everything is fine on our end, something must have happened to them." Marina concluded.

"This is bad… Do you think they got…"

"If they were splatted they'd just be returned to Inkopolis, well at least Inker and Bough would."

"No way! There's no way Neon would be splatted so easily!" Sky insisted, he had a low sense of presence as always, in fact Kal almost forgot he was here.

"Could the kettle itself be a dead zone?" Marina wondered.

"Dead zone? I dunno about that but everything was working fine just a few minutes ago." Cuttlefish said.

"So everything was working even after they entered the kettle?"

"Yes everything was fine, I saw them strollin' through rows of glass tubes."

"Then the other explanation would be that they were spotted and someone began deliberately jamming communications to trap them inside."

"Oh, maybe something in here could explain it!" Kal quickly started flipping through the folder on Ophelia's lair.

Hopefully they could somehow contact them again, if not who else could they send?

* * *

**Hidden lair, Octo Canyon**

Inker, Neon, Victoria and Bough had just finished off the failed experiments, when Ophelia put the lair on a supposed lockdown.

Of course, they didn't know that.

In fact, they had no idea anything was wrong, until Inker tried to call Kal for help in figuring out what was being created here.

"Kal? Sky? Anyone?"

No answer.

"Bough I think something's wrong with my Hero suit, can you call back to the Cap'n?"

"I'll try… Cap'n! Cap'n Cuttlefish!?"

No reply.

That's odd, I just heard you through my headset, but it sounds like they can't." Inker said. "Maybe something is preventing us from reaching anyone outside the lair, but it doesn't affect us who are already inside…"

"Hey whacha shouting about?!" Neon asked.

"Something is wrong, we can't hear anything from mission control anymore."

"Oh… does this mean we have to go back?"

"Yes, if we can't contact anyone, it's best that we leave first and figure out what happened." Victoria said.

"Aww…."

"Quit complaining, we'll be back shortly. Lets just leave quickly and tell the others what happened."

Inker, Neon, VIctoria and Bough backtracked to the start of the lair.

Only to find that they could no longer exit the kettle.

"Hey what gives?!"

The kettle was now dead, as if the power was cut off, yet the rest of the lair was perfectly powered.

Not even the lights flickered.

"Is someone trying to trap us inside?" Bough wondered. "Could they be watching at this very moment?"

"I don't know… Well the only way now is back the way we came from." Inker said.

"What about the leftward path?"

"I don't know… should we split up and cover more ground?"

"Split up? We aren't in a rush here, there is no need to compromise safety for speed." Victoria explained

"Let's go right again and see what else we can find."

The room full of strange creatures had been completely cleared.

Or so it seemed.

Inker began to wonder what was happening here.

The lair was still powered, yet the kettle wasn't so they could not exit.

It could easily be blamed on a mechanical or electrical problem, but that wouldn't explain why they could no longer communicate with the outside world.

As Inker was thinking his pace slowed down a bit.

Bough, Victoria and Neon entered the seemingly empty room.

As Inker was about to enter as well, the door slammed shut.

"What the?!"

Inker pulled on the door as hard as he could but it was locked tight.

Hearing the door slam shut behind them, Bough and Victoria started trying to push it open from their side, to no avail.

Then, the back wall fell down, revealing one more deformed creature.

Bough and Victoria, still trying to open the door and let Inker in, immediately changed their minds.

The new creature was huge, it held an equally oversized roller and had skin which resembled the texture of bread. On it's head, it wore a flat machine vaguely resembling a showerhead, said machine also had four parts branching off from the main structure, connecting it to four rotors giving it the appearance of being able to fly.

"T-thats!" Bough was speechless. It reminded him of the Octo Oven, the Octo Shower and the Octo Samurai.

Victoria however remained more calm.

"It's almost as if someone took bit of different Octoweapons and smooshed them together. Just what was being made in this lab?"

Inker could see through a small vertical window, he began pounding on the door, but it still wouldn't move.

"Come on… come on! Open!"

He wasn't going to sit here and watch that… thing attack his friends.

And then, as if completely oblivious to the panic envelopping everyone else, came a loud hearty laugh from Neon.

"Ohohoho! That thing is huge! Awesome! This looks like alot of fun! Alright then I'm going in! HHHHYAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Switching to the old E-Liter 3k Custom, Neon ran towards the giant creature and switched to Kraken form, before throwing herself at the creature, headbutting it.

Inker and the others gave up on the door.

"This isn't right, someone must be behind all this, go back the other way, maybe theres a way to open these doors." Victoria said.

"Yeah, go look! And please hurry!" Bough added.

"What about you guys?" Inker asked

"We'll be fine… At least I hope so."

"A-alright! Don't go anywhere!"

"Not the time for sarcasm don't you think?!"

Inker ran back and this time went leftward.

Dashing past the giant tubes, Inker noticed that now they were all covered.

He could no longer see what they contained.

He didn't have time to worry about that, he had to find who was running hte show here.

It was probably that Octoling who led Eight away, yeah it had to be her.

Reaching the end of the left path, Inker found a room labeled security and slammed through it.

"Eep!" Came a squeal as Ophelia spotted Inker busting into the room.

"You! Let Bough and the others go right now!" Inker aimed his Hero shot towards Ophelia.

In panic, Ophelia cowered behind a second Octoling.

'_Oh no…'_ Inker thought, realizing that Eight was in the room too.

Seeing Inker's immediate threat, Eight glared at him.

In response Inker quickly lowered his weapon.

"I… I didn't mean…"

"I told you! I knew they were coming for me! The lockdown couldn't even keep them out!" Ophelia shouted from behind Eight.

Seeing her friend in such a panic, Eight took a defensive stance in front of her and fired at Inker.

"Don't worry, I promise you will be safe." Eight assured her

"T-thank you Alicia."

"Alicia? Is that really your name?" Inker asked, rolling to the side and avoiding Eight's first burst.

"Yes." Eight replied "Before the metro, I was Alicia, an Octarian soldier and Ophelia's best friend." She continued to attack Inker with her Octoshot but she didn't stray far from Ophelia.

"Well I'm glad you found yourself, but there are more important things at hand! Get Ophelia to unlock the rest of the lair now!" Inker said, still avoiding Eight's shots.

He could tell that Eight wasn't actually trying to splat him, but rather she was trying to drive him away from Ophelia.

"Why? Why are you even here? I know I haven't called back, but I just didn't have the chance. Did you come looking for me?" Eight asked

"Yes, yes I did."

"That's a lie."

"It isn't!"

"If it is, then why are you threatening Ophelia again?!"

"I didn't… Well I did, but I have a reason."

"Not only that, but we both saw you and the others splatting those poor Octarians who were deformed."

"What? No wait, hold on, they attacked us!"

"That's unlikely, considering that they are just unfortunate victims of Octo Valley's accidents."

"They really did! They jumped on us shortly after we saw them!"

"Doesn't Neon also do that whenever she greets us in Inkopolis?"

"T-that's different!"

"Different how? Different because they don't look like normal Octarians?"

"No, well I uhh, I guess I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't cut it, if you really are here for me then thank you, but I don't need it."

"You're staying here? But why?"

"Well, I guess after living carefreely in Inkopolis for so long, I've been missing a sense of purpose, but I've found that here."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure i'm sure! Now take Bough, Neon and Victoria and leave already!"

"Can you please calm down first, I'm not trying to hurt anyone!"

Eight looked at Inker, he looked sincere like he always did.

Then she glanced at Ophelia who looked like she was petrified with fear.

Although the two fired at each other, neither were trying to splat the other.

Both of them knew that.

"I can understand if you all came looking for me, but like I said I'm doing fine so please leave." Eight demanded

"Even if I wanted to, I can't." Inker replied

"Why not?"

"Someone's locked Bough and the others with some giant mutant and the kettle is also unpowered."

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't see the giant Octo Oven Shower Samurai hybrid thing?"

"No. I don't recall such a thing." Eight looked at Ophelia for confirmation.

Ophelia shook her head 'That's a lie, we were never making such a thing."

"I think you're the liar, unless there is someone else here besides you and Eight."

Eight tensed up, ready to fire at Inker again as Inker began accusing Ophelia of lying.

"It's just me here, and if I don't know what you're talking about, then I just don't. This is a place for synthesizing surrogate bodies, not creating crazy monsters!" Ophelia retorted

"What about the blocked kettle and the locked door?"

"You violently barged into my lab! Of course I'm putting it on lockdown!"

"Lockdown? Then how come only the kettle and that specific door were locked? I may have barged in here, but the doors weren't locked."

"Hmm? Probably a malfunction then."

"You know, it's awfully convenient that you show up exactly when Eight was looking for you…"

Eight had enough. "How much more are you going to say? Ophelia is my friend okay! I remember that name, I remember this place, that's proof enough!"

Inker took note of Eight, standing side to side with Ophelia.

She didn't look like she was going to back down, she must really believe Ophelia was her missing friend.

'_Well she did guess part of Ophelia's name when they first saw her face…_

_Wait, standing side by side?'_

Inker realized that in response to his accusations, Ophelia's supposed fear of him had vanished and she was no longer hiding behind Eight.

"Strange, Weren't you supposed to be scared?" Inker remarked.

Eight looked over at Ophelia and noticed the same thing.

When did Ophelia suddenly become brave? She appeared to be fearful just moments ago.

"Well, I know you won't splat me with Eight here, that's why." Ophelia said

Inker could believe that, but at this point he didn't trust Ophelia like Eight did.

No, there had to be something else… The more he thought about it the less trustworthy Ophelia appeared.

"You don't actually want me to leave do you?" he asked

"Huh?" Eight glanced at Ophelia, then back at Inker.

Inker wasn't talking to Eight, rather he was talking to Ophelia.

"So far Eight has been telling me to take the others and leave as if she didn't know I was trapped here, but you haven't said anything."

"What do you expect? You're done nothing but threaten me both the times we've met!" Ophelia retorted

"True but you said that the lockdown was supposed to protect you, yet the door to this room was left completely open."

"A glitch then."

"If that's the case, why didn't the other doors lock at the same time as the kettle?"

"..."

Eight noticed something was off too.

"Wait, if you can lock the doors from here, why didn't you just lock Inker and the others in that room with the failed subjects the moment we saw them?" Eight asked

"Huh? You were watching the whole time? In that case, if you wanted us gone, why didn't you let us go when we backtracked to the kettle then lock us out?" Inker asked

Ophelia found herself cornered.

She stood silently, trying hard to think of an excuse but…

Inker and Eight were no longer fighting, both turned to face Ophelia.

Ophelia was now the center of suspicion.

Ophelia glanced back at the console which she had used to shut down the lair.

It displayed all the information on the bodies within the vats, how long it had been since their creation, what their vital signs were and what kind of modifications were available.

Perhaps not willing to lose her work, Ophelia relented.

"Okay… You got me, I'll admit it, I lied a bit."

"Huh? O-Ophelia… What's going on?" Eight asked in a worried tone.

Not worried for Ophelia, but for what the truth may actually be.

Depending on what she said, Eight might be left without purpose yet again.

"Just stay with me… I'll tell you the truth."


	4. The Truth Behind Eight

**A/N: **The writing in this chapter may be a bit strange and is definitely different from my usual chapters as it jumps between time periods. I hope this doesn't make it too hard to follow.

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Truth Behind Eight**

"Just stay with me… I'll tell you the truth." Ophelia said.

If that was supposed to put Eight and Inker at ease, it failed. It had the opposite effect of putting them further on edge against Ophelia.

Especially Eight, who trusted her, as she was the one from her bits of memory.

"You are actually working for Octavio, aren't you?" Inker asked

Ophelia shook her head.

"No, I didn't lie when I said that I was not working for Octavio."

"Yeah, she was listening to the Calamari Inkantation while you weren't here. She can't be working for Octavio." Eight added

"Don't assume that everyone has the same reaction to that song… Though this is probably not the best time for me to say that…" Ophelia said.

For some reason, that sounded a bit familiar to Eight. Maybe she had heard someone say that before? Or maybe something along those lines.

"No, I get what you mean, after all there are still those of support Octavio even after hearing the inkantation."

Not to mention the Elite Octolings, who were fiercely loyal to only Octavio. No wonder the free Octarians of New Octopolis had no Elite Octolings.

But so far all this did nothing to explain why Ophelia had been clearly lying earlier, nor did it clear up any of those lies.

_'Is she trying to stall? Maybe she thinks that Bough, Neon and Victoria will be defeated and that giant thing will come for us next?' _ Inker glanced at Eight, who was no longer maintaining a defensive stance in front of Ophelia. _'Should I try and force Ophelia into unlocking the whole lair?'_

Before Inker could do anything however, Ophelia glanced back at the console, then she began to speak.

"I will admit, I could have easily scavenged some power eggs from the abandoned lairs, instead of risking my neck, going to Inkopolis and stealing a zapfish."

"What changed your mind?" Eight asked.

"Well, you might not know it, but I've been keeping an eye on Octavio's army, for my own safety of course. I don't want anyone discovering this place. So, since I was.."

"You're stalling aren't you?" Inker called her out.

Ophelia didn't say anything, though Inker could tell that she had suddenly become a lot more nervous.

"If you really aren't working for Octavio, then you have no reason to trap Agent 4 and the others with that… thing…" Inker continued

"Okay I get it! I'll let them out, though I can't really control that beast, luckily it's not as strong as it seems."

Ophelia hurried to the console and tapped a few buttons.

"There, see!" Ophelia waved her hands to show that she wasn't doing anything hostile "It's done, now where was I?"

Ophelia began explaining things again, but Inker tuned her out in order to ask Bough and the others if they really were free to leave.

"Yeah the door is open." Bough confirmed over the radio.

It seemed like they could still communicate with those inside the lair, but not anyone on the outside.

"Well then? Get out of there."

"I could but… well, listen for yourself."

There was a slight scraping noise on the other end, then Inker started to hear someone else's voice instead of Bough's

"Wahahahahha!" a somewhat crazy yet familiar laugh accompanied with the sounds of super jumps and E-Liter fire.

Inker sighed

"Neon.."

Neon was probably too carried away with fighting that big abomination.

"Neon can't respawn, neither can Victoria, so if they are still fighting, keep an eye on them." Inker said.

"Yeah okay, but…"

Bough glanced over at the two girls.

Neon was going wild, she didn't look worried at all.

In fact she was having a blast kiting that giant monster with her E-Liter while hopping between Squid Beakons.

As for Victoria she had a cool air to her, as if being in battle came naturally.

Also Neon was making so much noise that she drew all attention towards her.

"Honestly it doesn't seem like those two need any help."

Confirming that the others were okay, Inker turned his attention back towards Ophelia and Eight.

Ophelia was saying something about purposely bringing Eight here.

"You are one of the only Octarians to make it out of the Deepsea Metro alive, so of course I had to lure you here and get a good look at you."

She had stolen the zapfish for that very reason… But why was she telling them this now?

_'Maybe she just feels cornered and wants to reveal everything?'_

This didn't sit right with Inker.

"-and when I found out you lost your memory, that just made things better."

"But why go through all this trouble? I trusted you already."

"I knew you would, you always did in the past."

"The past? What about the past? I am Alicia right?" Eight asked

"You really have no clue, don't you?"

"Of course not, that's why i've been looking for you, I thought you could maybe explain things, help me find out who I am and what I should do."

"Hmm, well then, I guess I should start from the beginning then."

* * *

Four years ago, the Octarians were still all under Octavio's rule.

They lived in Octo Valley, which had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair.

As usual DJ Octavio blamed all their misfortunes on the Inklings, young Octarians flocked to the army for a chance to make their home a better place by taking back the surface.

Octolings formed their main ranks, while those made from cutting off the tentacles of Octolings filled other, more expendable roles.

Yet to some, this wasn't enough.

So when a certain combat medic came up with an idea to strengthen the army even further with limitless numbers and better troops, Octavio agreed to let her give it a shot.

So began project E.E.L

* * *

**Octo Valley**

Back at Nautilus base, things got hectic when Kal and the others had read the documents they found on that hidden lair and project E.E.L.

"Can't you do some hacking or something and reach Eight?"

"I'm trying, but it's not that easy."

Pearl and Marina were still unable to contact Inker, and the others.

"We have to try something, I'll head over there and see what I can do." Kal suggested

"What good would that do?" Sky remarked.

"Well I can't just stay here. Besides, shouldn't you be more worried? From what we've Victoria and Eight should be safe, but Inker, Bough and Neon are in trouble!"

"Of course i'm worried, Neon can't respawn down there, but even so we can't do anything if we just go in alone."

Inker and Bough had hero suits, Neon had a ton of experience and Victoria had Octarian army training.

Kal and Sky couldn't do anything that they couldn't.

"What else can we do then?"

At this moment, another Octoling poked her head inside the room.

"What's going on in here?"

She wore an older model of Octoling armor and had her hair tied in a ponytail.

Lynn of the New Octopolis army.

That was enough to remind Kal and Sky that they were currently sitting in a New Octopolis base.

That meant that there still was something they could do.

"Hey Lynn, we could really use your help right about now."

* * *

**Project E.E.L lab, Octo Canyon**

"Alicia and I went through alot of trouble getting the project on its feet you know." Ophelia continued

She had been explaining, what was supposedly the truth for a while now.

Although some parts were left out, they managed to slip past Inker.

But for Eight, all this sounded familiar.

Was she Alicia? She could remember a lot of the things Ophelia described

The decaying state of Octo Valley.

Octavio doing everything he could to strengthen the army.

The beginning of project E.E.L.

'_Wait a second, didn't she say that the project involved giving new bodies to the deceased, allowing them to live again?' _Eight wondered

That bit never sounded familiar to her, though now Ophelia admitted the project was for the army…

Was it an Octarian attempt at an alternative method of respawning?

"Hold on! Didn't you say Project E.E.L was meant to keep us alive?" Eight asked

"Yes, that is true."

"But what does the army have to do with all this? I don't get it?"

"Oh right, I lied about that as well didn't I?"

Seeing Ophelia admit it so shamelessly was a bit infuriating to Inker.

Then she turned and grinned towards Inker.

"You can probably guess what our real purpose was."

"Huh?" Inker didn't know what she was getting at.

"Surely you must have noticed, when you were being attacked by those failed experiments, none of them attacked your Octoling friend."

That was true.

Inker recalled how when they were fighting, Victoria seemed to have it easy standing to the side firing her Blaster with caution to avoid friendly fire.

"F-failed experiments? I know their new bodies didn't last long, but isn't that a bit rude? I thought they were once your friends?" Eight exclaimed

Ophelia snorted "You believed that too? Those weren't ever real Octarians, just a bunch of failed experiments I didn't have the resources to put down." Ophelia groaned "urghh, it was all going so well inside the tank, how was I supposed to know that it was impossible to create a stable living Octarian without a base cell."

Eight shuddered at that cold remark.

The kind and warm Ophelia from before seemed to just vanish.

"Wait, but what about Project E.E.L being about preventing death as a whole?" Eight asked

"Ha, that's impossible, just how do you expect someone to just take control of another body after death? You want to know what E.E.L really stands for? It's not Enhance Existing Life, but Engineer Eradicative Lifeforms."

Eight gasped, she was completely in shock.

But to Inker it all made sense.

Ophelia looked at the two. "Now I assume you two aren't stupid enough to not notice the connection between E.E.L and the army."

Engineer Eradicative Lifeforms.

The failed experiments not targeting Victoria and acting docile to Ophelia and Eight.

"Project E.E.L isn't creating surrogate bodies, but creatures designed to eradicate Inklings?"

"Correct." Ophelia smiled, thinking about the naming of the project. "Just like actual eels, the soldiers we were meant to create would be vicious and aggressive when disturbed by Inklings."

* * *

One year into the project, progress had grinded to a halt

"We're losing her, we're losing her….. Dammit! Failed again!"

Ophelia pounded the vat as she failed yet another attempt.

"I don't understand it! Why do we keep losing them!"

She had done everything correctly, that Octoling should have been perfectly fine.

Yet it had died off as soon as it's body was ready to leave the vat.

"Is something wrong Ophelia?" Came a slightly curious voice.

"You bet! Why do these Octolings keep dying!? At this point we will need a landfill for all these failed experiments!"

"Calm down, you can't think straight when you are angry." Alicia assured her

"Smarter individuals get angry easier! I've done everything correctly! Nothing is wrong! So why won't it work!"

Ophelia shouted in frustration, pounding the vat's console a few times.

Alicia glanced over at the vat.

Indeed everything had been fine.

The Octoling Ophelia had created matched perfectly with any real Octoling of 16 years of age.

To create something this accurate from silicon and synapse, without even a bit of genetic material from a real Octoling was quite something.

But maybe what Ophelia was doing was a tad over complicated and a bit inefficient.

"Now hold on, take a deep breath and tell me what went wrong."

"What would you know? You're just here for security purposes!"

"I'm just trying to help."

"Ha! Well if you want to help, try figuring out why a perfectly healthy subject dies as soon as it's ready to leave the vat! I'll wait."

Alicia didn't know as much as Ophelia did, but she still wanted to help in any way she could.

If Ophelia's project went well, there would be a significant increase in the Octarian army's numbers.

No, there would be a limitless supply of them, they wouldn't even need to train them since Ophelia designed them to do nothing but fight Inklings.

They would be cookie cutter soldiers, press them out of their vats and send them to the front lines.

'_Wait maybe that is the problem…' _Alicia guessed

Ophelia intended for these creations to have just one directive, to fight for the Octarian army.

Maybe something as simple as that couldn't sustain itself?

"Ophelia, how do you program these guys to attack Inklings?" Alicia asked

"I don't think you'll have the time to learn."

"Well then, in that case can we try something different? Instead of making Octarians from scratch, why not make one based off an existing Octoling?"

"You want me to waste time with cloning? That's nothing new and a waste of my genius. We aren't just going to clone the army when I can make better soldiers this way."

Perhaps there was a sense of pride which prevented Ophelia from going that route.

"Oh… well that's too bad, I thought I was onto something there."

"Feh, cloning was already discovered and explored years ago, it's not worth it."

'_Discovered and explored years ago huh?'_

Cloning wasn't Alicia's idea, rather she felt like creating an Octarian out of nothing and giving them only one purpose wasn't enough to make them want to live.

Maybe they were smart enough to realize that they were just some creation bred to fight and die.

Unfortunately Alicia wasn't sure how to explain such a thing to Ophelia, without her assuming that she was trying to push her into making a clone army.

So instead she observed quietly over the next month as Ophelia failed a few more times.

Ophelia was a clever Octoling, she'd give her that, but she could be stubborn and hot tempered.

Alicia decided that if she couldn't explain, she could try to show Ophelia instead.

While Ophelia was getting some rest, Alicia had decided to try her hand.

Ophelia had just failed again and was once again trying to create an Octoling.

She had gotten so used to the creation process, that she had simplified it and had the vats programmed to do it for her.

Alicia could even change things if she wanted too, that was how simple it had become.

And change was exactly was Alicia did.

It wouldn't be cloning if the Octoling they created was only loosely based off her right?

First she decided to add some of her own cells to the mix.

Then, using the vat's console, Alicia scrolled to the part beyond the physical appearances.

Once again Ophelia had given only one directive to this Octoling.

'Fight for the Octarian army at all cost.'

It was a simple yet clear directive.

And obviously not enough.

Octarians were complex living beings, not robots programmed for a single task.

Erasing that, Alicia thought hard about her own life and what it had been up to now.

She began with more specific things, like why she served the Octarian army, who was to be considered a friend, what was worth fighting for, etc.

From there she worked her way down to more basic things such as what she thought were good intentions, how to communicate, how to live, learn and adapt.

Alicia spent hours making these changes, before turning in for the night.

It didn't take long for Ophelia to discover that she had messed with her project.

"Alicia, you've been doing nothing but patrol the lab and occasionally run some errands for me, right?"

"Right."

Ophelia looked at her with scrutinizing eyes.

"Well then, care to explain why this Octoling looks so much like you?"

Perhaps it was because Alicia added some of her own cells, or because she pretty much put her own memories and ideals into the console meant for directives, but this Octoling had formed much quicker than any previous one and it looked alot like a younger version of her.

In response to her friend's question, Alicia shrugged.

Ophelia then started scrolling through everything on the console.

"Ahh wait!"

Too late, Ophelia discovered the huge wall of text where her simple 'fight for the Octarian army at all cost' directive had been previously.

"What is this? What did you do?"

"I thought I could help."

"Help? You call this helping? We are supposed to make superior soldiers who follow the army's every command!"

"Well I put in a few things about what is worth fighting for so tha-"

Ophelia interrupted her, reading out some of the things Alicia had added "What are the qualities of a friend, what is fresh and was is not, how to adapt and overcome... All you've done is create a normal Octoling!"

"Is that a bad thing? I mean it's better than just some drone with only one goal."

Ophelia sighed.

"Oh well, it's too late to change anything now, I guess we'll just wait for this one to die as well and try again." She had already been getting disheartened, failing over and over.

But a few days later, Ophelia was surprised.

The Octoling Alicia had tampered with, hadn't died off like all the previous experiments.

In fact, for the first time ever, one of her experiments opened their eyes.

Still floating in the vat of green liquid, the Octoling slowly looked around, as if discovering the world around her.

On that morning, Ophelia squealed with joy.

Alicia came running over to see what had transpired and was ambushed with a big hug from Ophelia.

"Thank you!"

She wasn't yet sure as to why it worked, but whatever Alicia had done, put project E.E.L back into motion.

Alicia herself could hardly believe her idea had worked.

"Wow, that really worked?"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, I just had an idea."

"You mean a theory."

"Sure a theory, I thought that maybe Octarians needed a bigger reason to live than just to serve the army."

"Huh, well whatever you did, there was something that fixed the problem."

Now all Ophelia needed to do was look into what Alicia had changed and she could make the simple Octarians with only one purpose that she had promised Octavio.

* * *

Ophelia had just finished retelling another part of her past.

"You were trying to create living weapons of war…" Inker muttered

"Of course I was, you should have seen the terrible state of Octo Valley three years ago."

"Well I can understand why you started, but now that Octavio is gone and you've heard the Calamari Inkantation, why haven't you stopped?" Eight asked

"You should know that by now." Ophelia replied

"Uhh, really?"

"Come on, don't make me do all the work here. I've already said so much, you should recall the rest."

"Hmmm.'

Eight tried to recall the rest.

What else was there to recall?

All she remembered were tanks of green liquid, a song, her friend…

Wait there was also the argument.

She couldn't recall it clearly before, but after seeing this lab again, seeing Ophelia again and hearing that story, everything was coming back.

* * *

Two years ago, Agent 3 and DJ Octavio fought.

During that battle the Squid Sisters intervened, spreading their squidtastic grooves across the valley.

Only a few days after that, deep within Octo Canyon an Octoling woke up.

At first her mind was blank.

Her vision was a blur.

Slowly, reality came into focus.

She looked around.

She appeared to be trapped in some sort of glass tank.

Strange, how did she get there?

Someone came walking in.

The Octoling looked at her face. It looked familiar, maybe she should try remembering who she was.

That's right, she was a friend.

The Octoling smiled as the friend jumped back in shock and squealed with joy.

She looked happy.

That was good but… Who was she?

The Octoling pondered inside her vet.

Oh right, it was Ophelia.

She could recall some things about her.

Like Alicia and her serving together in the army.

Wait who is Alicia?

Was that her own name?

Oh wait, maybe it was the name of the second Octoling, running in and getting hugged by the first.

They looked happy.

That was good.

Being happy, being with friends, was good.

* * *

'_What a strange memory…'_ Eight wondered.

"Still not remembering what happened next?" Ophelia asked

"I'm not sure, I think I do but… it doesn't add up to what you said. I remember the scene of you jumping with joy, but I don't remember rushing over to see what happened."

"No? Well, that makes sense, you aren't Alicia after all."

"What?!" Eight exclaimed

But Ophelia had told her she was Alicia.

Ophelia treated her like a friend.

What happened to that kind looking Octoling, who was so afraid of being splatted? When did she become so cold?

"If I'm not Alicia, then who am I? And what happened to her?"

Ophelia, without the slightest hint of regret, said "I killed her."

"Huh?"

"I killed Alicia, you were awake and present at the time, you should remember that too, the promised land, the argument…"

That was all Eight needed.

She couldn't recall it clearly with just the mem cake, but now that she had seen this lab again she could remember.

* * *

It was only days after Octavio's defeat, that the Calamari Inkantation began to spread through the underground civilizations of the Octarians.

The Octarians of Octo Valley would soon find themselves split in two, between those that supported Octavio and those who condemned him.

It was no different for the small research group in Octo Canyon.

"Ophelia!" Alicia came running in just as Ophelia was taking notes on the first subject to come to life.

"What's wrong Alicia?"

"Listen to this!"

Alicia showed her a recording of the fight between Octavio and Agent 3.

"What about it?"

"Just listen, I know it's pretty bad quality, but doesn't that song clear your head?" Alicia was brimming with excitement, it was almost childlike.

"Well I guess it does…" Ophelia smiled "Thanks, this could really help me with Project E.E.L."

"Forget Project E.E.L, there's a whole new world up there, a promised land just waiting for us. We don't need to keep working down here, we can leave."

"What… Alicia… What did you just say?"

"We can leave, it's our choice you know! I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I actually don't have anything against the Inklings. I'm sure we can live a better life on the surface among the Inklings rather than rotting down here."

"No way! I have worked far too hard for this project! I am not abandoning it now to live some fantasy of yours!" Ophelia was furious.

How could this so called friend of hers, try and make her abandon her work? Sure that song was nice and it did feel refreshing to listen too, but that didn't mean she was going to abandon everything she worked for.

"It's not some fantasy, there really is a promised land waiting for us up on the surface."

"NO! I will not go! Not until I am finished…"

"Come on! Is Project E.E.L really that important? All it's going to do is cause more violence."

"You're a soldier! You should be fine with that!"

"No! Just because I care about our species doesn't mean I want to fight every non Octarian! You should realize that Octavio's methods are wrong!"

Ophelia stared in disbelief.

Is this what they called an epiphany? Still there was no way she would abandon her work.

But Alicia had a point, why did she have to work for Octavio? He wasn't the one racking his brains trying to engineer soldiers with unwavering loyalty.

"Fine then, how about this, instead of finishing Project E.E.L for Octavio we do it for ourselves?"

"What?"

"Like you said Octavio's methods are wrong. But that doesn't mean we have to conform to whatever the Inklings do."

"We won't have to."

"How can you be so sure? Octavio never forgave the Inklings for the great turf war, so how can you be certain the Inklings don't feel the same? I'll finish Project E.E.L just to be safe. With an army by our side, we can make our surface life whatever we want it to be."

Alicia violently shook her head

"No! We should never have even considered doing this! If we explain things and apologize to Inkopolis I'm sure they'll forgive us for even starting Project E.E.L."

"How could you even say that? We have worked so hard just to get here. Forget Inkopolis and Octavio, we won't need any of them if we can make our own army."

Alicia turned her back on Ophelia.

"No… I'm sorry, I don't want to be a part of this any longer."

As for Ophelia she was shocked

How could Alicia just turn her back on everything they've worked for?

Not only that, but she's heading to the surface and thinks turning herself in would guarantee her place in Inkopolis.

Ophelia wouldn't allow that to happen.

Not when she struggled so much getting this project to where it was.

She had to see this through, even if it meant going against Inkopolis, Octavio, or anyone else.

Not even Alicia.

She reached for any sharp object she could find and found herself holding a scalpel.

As her former friend was calmly walking away, conflicted by the choice of either a happy life in Inkopolis or a normal life with her friend, Ophelia ran up behind her.

Without a word, she drove the blade into Alicia's throat.

All under the eyes of the Octoling they had created together, still sitting in it's vat.

* * *

Eight buried her face in her hands.

Now she knew why the name Alicia sounded familiar.

She knew why one of the Octarians at the Last Bastion mistook her for Alicia.

She knew why the Octoling mem cake brought back memories of a vat of green liquid, of an argument and of Ophelia.

She could also recall how things went on from there.

First she was taken out of her vat and lived alongside Ophelia for a while.

Ophelia would often stay up all night, apparently hard at work.

Eight would often find her deep asleep after she had passed out trying to pull an all nighter.

She remembered gently touching her face, trying to rouse her from sleep.

Finally she was turned over to Octavio after he had been rescued from the Inklings.

Eight would then serve in the Octarian army, while Ophelia seemed to vanish back into the lab.

Those two were parted, but Eight wouldn't let that bother her.

At the time, Ophelia was her first and only friend.

She believed that for sure, they would meet again someday.

"Wh-wha…. So all that about eliminating death, giving older Octarians new bodies, Ava and Ana…" Eight asked

"Are all lies. You know, just like your whole life." Ophelia replied.

Eight stumbled back in terror and Ophelia didn't stop there.

"That's right, anything you remember, or think you remember from before you were out of the vat, was nothing but text that Alicia punched into your head."

Eight stood, trembling as she stared at her own hands..

She never would have thought that she was a science experiment.

Meanwhile, Inker had been listening and watching all this.

He didn't care about where Eight came from, he didn't like Ophelia knocking her down like that.

This time, he definitely won't let Ophelia off easy.

"I've heard enough, once we get out of here I'm handing you over to either Octo Canyon or Octo Valley." He grabbed Ophelia's arm and violently pulled her away.

"I just have one more question, why did you bring Eight here?"

However unlike before, Ophelia didn't act scared or nervous.

Instead she just sneered.

"You aren't in a position to ask anything Agent 3. I know much more than you ever will in your whole life. I know Eight hid down in the Deepsea Metro and managed to make it back alive, so I took a suggestion from my good friend Alicia and made slightly altered copies of Eight."

"What are you talking ab-"

There was a sudden storm of footsteps.

Inker looked towards the door and saw Eight come running in.

No wait, Eight was already in the room, there was another Eight.

And another...

And another…

'_What was going on?'_

Inker found himself encircled by Agent 8s

"How did you.. Ah!"

Inker noticed the console that Ophelia had been using before.

Like before it showed information on the various vats in the lair.

But now the timer on it had reached zero.

"Don't tell me… You told us all that just to stall?" Inker guessed.

"Oh, I thought you had forgotten, I guess Inklings have some brains after all, though perhaps it's only natural since you accused me of it earlier."

Inker grit his teeth, he should have suspected something was up.

He shouldn't have let his guard down around Ophelia just because Eight thought she was a friend.

Speaking of Eight, which one was her?

Inker looked around.

There were seven Eights staring at him with blank expressions.

And one whose eyes were wide with both shock and fear.

Eight was in a panic seeing so many copies of herself.

'_Where did they come from? Why are there so many? Why are there so many of me? How did Ophelia make so many of me? oh!?'_

Eight noticed how one of her clones had blue eyes.

Then she remembered that she had let Ophelia cut a part of her tentacle and use it to supposedly make a new body.

Eight recalled how Ophelia chopped it into many bits and only dropped one piece into the vat.

So the other copies of her must have been made from the remaining pieces…

She counted seven more of herself in the room, they all stared blankly at Inker.

And Inker, trapped in the center of a circle of Eights, sweated nervously expecting one of them to make a move.

Ophelia was enjoying this.

Ever since she heard the Inkantation she realized she didn't have to work for DJ Octavio, instead she could work for herself.

These copies of Eight was proof of that.

They weren't just following the original order of 'Fight for the Octarian Army at all cost.' But rather they were set to do whatever Ophelia ordered them too.

And since they were copies of Eight, an Octoling who survived the deepsea metro, these selfless and mindless duplicates were guaranteed to be powerful.

Inker had the same train of thought, that made him worried.

Could he beat them all?

"U-ummm, what am I supposed to do?" Eight suddenly asked

"Oh come on! That should be obvious!" Inker remarked, but Eight wasn't paying attention to him anymore.

Eight knew that she wasn't an Octoling named Alicia, but a product of Project E.E.L

She had been searching for the individual in her memories because she felt that she had lost her purpose upon completing everything in the metro.

"You're not just a friend, but my creator too! If anyone can tell me what purpose I have left in the world, it's you!" Eight begged

Nothing else mattered now, all Eight wanted was to accomplish her original goal, to find something to fill in this empty feeling of pointless existence.

But Ophelia only laughed

"You really need to ask that? Well I can't blame you, you were originally designed to follow whatever directive you were given, too bad Alicia meddled with it and replaced it with a bunch of random thoughts and memories. Hmmm… let me think."

Ophelia looked around at the new versions of Eight standing around her.

Ophelia only lured her back here because she heard she survived the Deepsea Metro. That and because it proved impossible to create a new stable life form without any Octarian cells to use as a base.

Her own creation, Eight, who had survived a place where 10007 Octarians died, was a perfect candidate for that.

And before, all she needed Eight for was...

"I only needed you as a sample for the Octarian army in order to get more resources. But now I don't think anyone has a use for you anymore." Ophelia said nonchalantly

She made a cutting motion, jabbing her thumb across her neck.

"So do the world a favor and kill yourself." Ophelia said.

That was it, there was no reason for Eight to remain.

Like Ophelia said, she didn't have a use for her anymore.

Neither did C.Q Cumber, since all his tests were done.

And Neither did the New Squidbeak Splatoon since they already had other agents.

Eight, who had lost her sense of purpose, found herself agreeing with Ophelia.

She began to feel weak in the knees.

If she really didn't have purpose to live for, what reason did she have to keep living?

Like a puppet with her strings cut, Agent Eight dropped to the ground in despair.


	5. A Reason To Live

**Chapter 5: A Reason to Live**

Like a puppet with her strings cut, Agent Eight dropped to the ground in despair.

Inker looked over.

He was concerned, Eight wouldn't actually just die like that right?

He hurried over to her side.

She was alive, but she looked dead inside as she lay on her back, staring blankly to the ceiling.

"Eight…"

Inker crouched next to her, shaking her gently in hopes she would at least move in response, but she did not, her body flopped around like a ragdoll.

Eight had become listless, she did not respond nor did she make any movements.

Seeing her reduced to such a state, Inker glared at Ophelia, who had now completely shed her fake personality and was standing with a smug looking grin on her face.

"How could you throw away Eight like this?!" Inker shouted

Ophelia shrugged "Is that wrong? The whole point of this project was to create disposable super soldiers."

"Yeah but…. Eight remembered you, even after losing her memory you were still important enough to her that she remembered you. Now this is how you treat her?"

"Of course, she's already served her purpose anyways. It's not like I wanted her to grow attached to me while I ran some extra tests to make sure she was living just fine. In fact she should be grateful I even had a purpose for her in the first place, most creatures are born without one."

Ophelia was now completely indifferent towards Eight's well being.

Inker felt that if he was in Eight's place, he would have regretted ever calling Ophelia a friend, not only that but he might have splatted her on the spot.

"You can't just brush her off so quickly! Don't you know all the things she's been able to accomplish? All on her own!"

"I don't care, I've already made more of her. These versions will do as I say without question. They are much better soldiers than she could ever be, so I don't need her around anymore, nor do I need your company." Ophelia's face suddenly became a lot more sinister as she turned to her clones of Eight "Kill them."

Instantly, the seven Eights drew Octoshots all at once, as if they were one being.

Inker scowled, he didn't think he could beat Eight in a fight, so he didn't see how he could possibly beat seven of her.

Inker decided to accept being splatted, knowing that the hero suit will save him.

As for Bough, Victoria and Neon they were already free to leave, so they should be fine.

Yes, there was no reason to lash out now and get worked up for no reason. Once they had regrouped, they will think of a proper strategy to deal with Ophelia and…

'_Wait a second!'_

Inker wiped away that idea.

Because he suddenly remembered that Eight did not have her own hero suit.

Plus Ophelia had said 'them' not 'him' so that meant the clones were gunning for both Inker and Eight.

Inker tossed a seeker towards the clones, who scattered in different directions with lightning quick reflexes, Inker took this opportunity to dive towards Eight, who was still lying motionless on the ground.

As the clones began firing at Inker, he quickly scooped up Eight in his arms and made a run for it.

Eight lay still in his arms for a moment, continuing to stare blankly into the ceiling. For a moment however, she moved, just a little.

It was just enough for her to angle her head and see who was carrying her.

What she was was Agent 3's face, sweat running down as he constantly glanced back, looking out for incoming projectiles. Eight could see ink flying past them, narrowly missing Inker's face.

She was quite surprised to see Inker carrying her while running for his life, so much that she couldn't help but go "huh?"

But Inker didn't have time to notice that.

He ran as fast as his legs would take him, yet it wasn't enough.

He could feel the burning of foreign ink splatting against the back of his head and seeping down into the hero suit.

The clones of Eight were just as fast as Eight was, that meant they could easily catch up to him easily.

Inker knew this, as Eight had previously outran him while wearing high heels, so as he ran, he desperately tried to slow down the clones by momentarily dropping Eight's lower half to throw a bomb or fire his hero shot.

But while that slowed down the clones, it also slowed down Inker as he had to pick up Eight again after.

This wasn't going to work, they were still hot on his tail.

And they were scoring hits.

Inker felt like he'd go 'splat' any moment now, he could feel his body about to lose shape and burst.

But it wasn't being splatted that worried him, it was the knowledge that if he was splatted now, Eight would surely be killed. With no other option but to resist, Inker steeled himself as much as he could and kept pushing forward.

Inker reached the kettle exit, but to his dismay, it was locked again.

Ophelia clearly wasn't letting him go so easily.

'_What about Bough, Neon and Victoria? Could they help?'_

With that in mind, Inker turned around only to face the seven clones of Eight who had been chasing him so relentlessly. He could not make it back to the others.

The clones stood there, staring blankly at him as they fired their octoshots.

Inker hadn't even managed to splat a single one of them yet.

Running so hard didn't help either.

Carrying Eight while running at full speed had exhausted Inker, as he struggled to keep standing and fire his Hero shot.

With no other choice, Inker gently put Eight down on the ground as he fought against exhaustion and pain to keep standing.

That's when he felt a gentle tug on his cape.

He looked down to see Eight, looking at him with lifeless eyes.

"Just leave me here, I don't mind." She said in an emotionless tone.

"No way!" Inker insisted.

Sweat and ink coated his body as he pushed himself as hard as he could.

His arm shook as he tried to aim, likely due to both exhaustion and a surge of adrenaline.

He tried to advance as much as he could, but he was forced back on the defensive.

One more step back and he would have trodden on Eight.

So without any other choice, Inker stood strong, calling for help into his Hero headset as he used every last drop of ink in his Ink tank trying to fend off his attackers.

The clones of Eight only used Octoshots, almost as if they had no other weapon on them.

They were also very co-ordinated, whenever one took too many hits, it would retreat and take cover behind the others.

Inker couldn't splat any of them as his Ink Tank slowly depleted.

Finally he ran dry.

Inker's first instinct was to die in ink and recharge, but doing so would mean leaving Eight to die.

Instead he stood firmly in front of Eight as the clones stopped firing.

Inker could hear footsteps approaching, it was likely Ophelia's.

As he waited to see the face of that despicable Octoling, he heard Eight speak again.

"Don't worry about me, I'm just another product of project E.E.L anyways, go find Neon and the others and get back to Inkopolis."

"No way! If I run now, you'll die!"

"That's fine, I already served my purpose after all, this was meant to be."

"You can't possibly think that!"

But one look at Eight's listless face confirmed it.

She had lost the will to live and wasn't getting back up anytime soon.

"Let them splat me." Eight said "At least that way you'll have time to get back to the others."

"I'm not letting that happen!"

Eight went silent again, but she just very slightly tilted her head to look at Inker.

She still looked lifeless as she lay motionless on the ground, watching Inker turn to face Ophelia once again.

Ophelia had that same smug look on her face as she quietly and calmly approached Inker.

"Did you really think I would forget to lock the place down again? Or did you seriously think that I'd leave it unlocked just because you ordered me to?"

Inker ignored that, instead he asked "Why? Why would you do this? Is it because of the Calamari Inkantation?"

Ophelia snickered "Because I can! Because I want to! Because I'm better than you! What? Did you think that just cause I'm not under Octavio's control i'd suck up to you Inklings? Pfft, don't make me laugh."

Inker clenched his fist, never before had he felt so much anger towards an individual.

Ophelia really didn't care about Eight, Alicia or anyone else.

Inker's eyes darted around, trying to look for a way out.

He could still hear the sounds of E-Liter and Blaster fire, meaning that Bough and the others were still fighting.

The exit behind him was powered down, he could not exit from the way he entered.

And Ophelia with her clones stood in front of him.

The clones appeared to have no free will and stood around with blank expressions in their eyes, as if they were lifeless drones.

In a way, they looked just like Eight, who was lying on the ground with no motivation to live.

Inker wondered how he could possibly get Eight out of this situation.

He wasn't prepared to lose someone he had gotten so close too.

Over the last three years as an agent, Inker had seen Inklings and Octolings lose someone close to them, even if he himself had never experienced such a loss, he had seen others go through it and wished he never have to go through anything similar.

Maybe now he would.

"Say… You're quite the resilient one aren't you?" Ophelia said.

Inker didn't bother replying to her, he was too busy trying to find a way out.

"If you stay and help me with project E.E.L, I wouldn't mind keeping you and your friends alive for the time being." Ophelia offered

Inker wasn't buying it, he had already seen how Ophelia treated her friends.

"Even if I agree, you'd just get rid of us once you are done making more copies, right?"

"Hmph, guess you have some brain cells after all. Too bad, I would have loved to create my own versions of the infamous Agent 3."

With a jolt of her head, Ophelia gave the order to the clones to finish off Inker and Eight.

Inker had no time to think of a strategy as a volley of ink came flying his way.

Inker tore off the cape he was wearing and crouched down next to Eight, then he held it out in front of them both.

If this cape could protect him from rain and water, it could probably stop some ink right?

Holding the cape up with one hand and his mouth, Inker used his other free arm to drag Eight away from the exit and to a corner, where he then used both his hands to hold up the cape as a shield.

There were pitter pattering sounds as shots of pressurized ink splatted against Inker's cape.

It almost felt like Inker was protecting Eight from deadly rain.

However, the ink was slowly making its way through the cape.

Not only that, but the cape was getting heavier and heavier as more ink stuck to it.

Inker was soon struggling even more, trying to hold it up.

He breathed heavily and grit his teeth, trying to shield himself and Eight for as long as possible, hoping that someone could come to his rescue.

As for Eight, she stared with awe.

Inker looked so determined, even though the odds were against him.

But why? Eight could not understand.

"Why?" Eight asked "Why are you trying so hard to save me? I'm just a science experiment. Why are you fighting so hard for a fake Octoling?"

"What do you mean fake?! You're very much real!" Inker said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not. I was created, not born, I'm just a mass of engineered living material someone strung together. A fake, artificial Octoling."

Silently, Inker cursed Ophelia for making Eight think this way.

Eight was so focused on her past that she wasn't looking any further than that.

But to Inker it really didn't matter what they found out about Eight's past.

She was still the same Octoling she always was, rediscovering some history wasn't going to change that.

If Eight couldn't see things from that perspective, Inker would have to open her eyes.

"Cut it out with that whole 'fake' nonsense!" Inker shouted "Eight, have you forgotten how Cuttlefish and I trusted you even though you were once our enemy? Did you forget how Pearl and Marina helped you even though they barely had any idea who you are? Did you forget how Inkopolis welcomed you despite your history with the Octarian army?"

He looked back at her, finding Eight staring at him with confusion in her eyes. It was almost as if she couldn't understand why Inker was saying all this stuff.

Perhaps Inker had to clarify, even further.

"Eight... " Inker said "I don't care if you come from a mother, an egg, or a lab!"

Eight's eyes widened, she suddenly felt the strength to sit up as Inker continued.

"So I don't care if you are the product of a science experiment and I doubt anyone else will either. No matter what, you are still the same Octoling who saved both me and Inkopolis."

It was true, it was all true.

Eight remembered how Cuttlefish, Inker and Off the Hook were always there for her.

Even if she had fought Inker before, he still showed up just in time to rescue her from Tartar and that giant blender.

Even if she was a complete stranger, Off the Hook still offered to help her pass the tests that she could not.

Even if she was once an enemy, Cap'n Cuttlefish still helped her escape to Inkopolis.

It made perfect sense that they would all be there for her even if she was revealed to be an artificial Octoling.

"Everyone was worried, you know." Inker continued "When you left with Ophelia and didn't return, Bough and I went looking for you. But soon everyone wanted to pitch in, even Marie!"

How wonderful.

Eight felt like she might cry.

Inkopolis was full of great people, great friends.

She wanted to go back, back to the promised land she worked so hard to reach.

"Ophelia might not have any use for you, but should that really matter? You've met so many creatures, made so many friends and had so much fun in Inkopolis, isn't that enough? Isn't the good times you've had in Inkopolis a good enough reason to live?" Inker finished

"...You're right." Eight replied.

She didn't need Ophelia to give her purpose.

She didn't need to be a normal Octoling to keep existing.

Even if she was a science experiment, even if she was once an enemy of Inkopolis, even if she was abandoned by her own creator and accomplished everything she was made for, she still had a reason to live.

Because in the end, all that meant was that Eight was free. Free from Octavio's control, from Tartar's sinister plans and from Ophelia's mad experiments.

Eight picked herself up.

If Ophelia, her creator had no use for her, then she would live for herself.

She wasn't going to be a burden for Inker any longer.

Just like in the metro, Inker had saved her life and she saved his later on.

Now Inker had saved her again, if the pattern holds true, now it would be her turn.

Eight burst out from underneath Inker's cape, surprising Ophelia.

Perhaps because they were too dependent on Ophelia's orders, the clones didn't react immediately.

They only fired at Eight when Ophelia told them too.

But by then it was too late.

Eight, welding an Octoshot which had been modified for Turf Wars, had an Inkjet as her special.

She took flight, soaring like an eagle over her clones and showering them in ink.

She flipped over the first few and fired her Octoshot at the ones in the middle.

As Eight landed, she jolted herself backwards, pointing the Inkjet's exhaust towards two more clones and powered up the Inkjet once again, sending a blast of ink into the clones.

This not only splatted them, but propelled Eight into another clone's chest.

Eight kept going and ran that clone into a wall, where she quickly got up and splatted it with her Octoshot.

Then she aimed herself backwards and fired up the Inkjet again, sending her up into the air towards the remaining clones.

They fired up at her, but Eight was much faster, with momentum from the Inkjet still sending her up, Eight expertly splatted more clones with precise aim of her Octoshot.

Finally as she fell down, only one last clone remained, the one she had given blue eyes.

The clone stared blankly at Eight as she descended upon it foot first.

Eight landed on the clone, quickly firing her Octoshot below her to splat it. The final clone was reduced to ink before Eight even touched the ground.

All seven clones had been splatted in a matter of seconds.

"Wh-wh…" Ophelia went, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Eight looked around her, at the massive ink puddle she was now standing in.

For a moment, she wondered if she should feel sorry for those clones, in a way they could have been considered her sisters.

Then she noticed Ophelia, trembling while pale faced, staring at Eight's work.

"That's impossible! That defies all logic! It's not scientifically possible! Those clones were better in every way! This makes no sense!" Ophelia shouted while pulling her hair.

In the meantime, Inker stood up, still exhausted. Eight went over to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, helping him up.

The two watched Ophelia rant about how what Eight had just done supposedly defied all logic.

Inker, still leaning on Eight, thought about those seven clones. They all looked like Eight, but…

"Now that I think about it, Eight beat me back in the metro on her own, yet these seven clones of her weren't able to do that…" Inker muttered

"What? No way! You're Agent 3! How can you lose to some cheap prototype!?" Ophelia rambled on.

Eight suddenly recalled the golden toothpick, she considered telling Inker about that strange vision of hers, but decided not to.

What happened in that locker is something she should keep to herself.

"Those clones were physically identical! Plus they had no feelings! No pain! No remorse! No hesitation! How could they lose!?" Ophelia went on.

"You're mistaken." Inker said.

"What could you possibly know about this?!"

"I know that you said Eight had free will, unlike those clones you made. That's what made her better, she has the ability to learn, to adapt. Eight has adapted, grown and survived dozens of deadly tests in the Deepsea Metro, that's what makes her so much better."

"You are stupid! If Eight has really been through all that! She should be traumatized and weak!"

"Hey I'm not the one who can't grasp the concept of experience." Inker shot back

In response, Ophelia only growled in anger.

"Well then…" Inker said, leaving Eight's side to stand on his own. "You can probably guess what happens now…"

Inker and Eight exchanged glances and nodded.

Inker had his Hero Shot in hand while Eight had her Octoshot.

"H-hey, w-what are you doing?" Ophelia stammered, her anger dissipated instantly when she realized what position she was in.

"You've not only stolen a zapfish from Inkopolis, but you also tried to kill us, what do you think is going to happen?" Inker smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He and Eight advanced on Ophelia, who rapidly became even paler than before.

"H-hey wait! That was all just the delusions of a dreamer, haha… Alicia, aren't we friends? We look out for each other, right?"

Eight tilted her head "Hmm? Weren't you the one who told me to kill myself earlier?"

"Ahaha, t-that was out of context. Of course I didn't mean it Alicia... Heh"

"I'm not Alicia, I'm Eight."

"Ahhh r-right! Eight! I think that's a good name!"

"It's just a number."

"R-right! B-but You remind me a lot of Alicia, s-so maybe you can forgive me and we can be friends again?"

"Didn't you kill the real Alicia."

"U-uhhhh, b-but I really regretted it, p-plus I uhh, I secretly looked up to her! So maybe there is some way you can forgive me?"

"Maybe Alicia can forgive you, but I'm not Alicia."

Eight didn't need Ophelia anymore, neither did she see her as a friend any longer.

"N-no wait!" Ophelia backed away from the two agents "I-I was wrong! I'll give you your zapfish back and let you all leave, just please don't come any closer okay?"

"You think we'll just walk away?"

"A-ahh right, I should do something as compensation for your time r-right? I-ill get to that just stop edging closer to me…"

Eight and Inker didn't say anything in response.

Ophelia, now defenseless, panicked as both Agents closed in, weapons in hand.

She cowered behind her arms

"NO STOP! I-I'll properly reflect on my actions! JUST DON'T HURT ME! PLEASE!"

Eight and Inker both stopped. They chuckled a bit.

Both of them just wanted a little bit of payback after what Ophelia had put them through. But they weren't actually going to hurt her.

"Why would I hurt you? We are just making sure you aren't getting away." Eight said.

"Besides I'm not the cold blooded killer Octavio says I am." Inker added.

In response, Ophelia sighed in relief, however she still looked nervous.

"What's going on? I heard shouting."

Bough came running, followed by Neon and Victoria.

"Good to see you are all safe." Inker said

"That giant thing wasn't that dangerous after all." Victoria explained

"Well not for you, cause it was focused only on me! Fighting it was really fun!" Neon beamed "What happened here anyways?" She then asked, taking note of the large splashes of ink.

"It turns out, Ophelia here isn't as innocent as she may look." Inker replied

"I thought so.." Bough added

Ophelia, trapped between the five, glanced around nervously.

She had nowhere to go now.

If she still held out for some hope that she could slip away, it was taken away when the kettle entrance burst open with a loud pounding noise.

"Finally! Quick we have too… Oh you're all here…"

Kalus had arrived, alongside Sky, Lynn and a detachment of New Octopolis soldiers, they brought a battering ram and forced their way into the lair.

Octotroopers from New Octopolis fanned out to protect the exhausted Agent 3 and Agent 8, while Kal and Sky approached their friends.

"Victoria, everyone… You're all okay?" Kal asked

"We are now, what's wrong?"

"We found some information on this lair back in Octo Valley, but then we lost contact with you. So I thought you had gotten into trouble."

"We did… So you all found out about Project Engineer Eradicative Lifeforms?" Inker asked

Kal and Sky nodded. "Ophelia, genetic engineering, anti Inkling weapons, everything about it." Sky said

"Looks like the cavalry wasn't needed after all." Kal commented

"Well you are all here." Victoria added, she eyed the Octarian flying saucers that had brought them all "At least we can get a ride back now."

"Oh right! Somebody cuff her too." Inker pointed at Ophelia. "And I still need to get the zapfish back."

"I know where it is, I'll help" Eight and Inker hurried back into the lab one last time.

With Eight remembering this lab clearly now, she and Inker found it in no time.

When they returned, Lynn's troopers had taken Ophelia into custody.

With Ophelia secured, the zapfish recovered and her past cleared, Eight felt satisfied, she and the others boarded the saucers Lynn and the New Octopolis army had brought and flew back to Octo Valley. From there, they would all head back to Inkopolis.

With that, Project E.E.L was shut down for good.

The only piece of it left was Eight herself.

The fact that she was a science experiment still bothered her a little, but not nearly as much as before.

As Inker had said, her origins weren't going to change who she was and nobody would disown her for being a creation by some science project.

But just to be sure, Eight wanted to tell everyone as soon as she got the chance…

* * *

**Nautilus Base, Octo Valley**

"Alright here we are, Nautilus base!" The saucer's Octostriker pilot called out to the others.

Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky disembarked, followed by Bough and Victoria.

Eight was the last to leave, as she stepped out of the saucer she saw Pearl, Marina and Cap'n Cuttlefish all standing there waiting for them.

"Agent 8! Good to see yer still kicking!" Cuttlefish waved as the group arrived.

Eight glanced around.

The only ones not present were Callie and Marie, though Bough said it was because they were dealing with Octavio and his hypno shades, at least Marie was…

Still, everyone was here for her, she had only been gone for a day, yet all these Inklings and Octolings gathered together to help look for her.

New friends, each interesting in their own way. Friends she could trust and who would replace the role Ophelia once filled in her heart.

"Everyone…" Eight said, looking at this gathering of cephalopods. "Thank you all for looking for me."

"Hey, no sweat!" Pearl replied

"That's what friends are for." Marina added

"Umm… There's something else you all should know…" Eight added.

"Hmm? What's that?"

Eight glanced at Inker one last time.

If her origin didn't bother him one bit, then it shouldn't bother anyone else.

Still, Eight felt compelled to ask, just in case…

"While I was gone, while we were in Octo Canyon, I found out where I came from, who I am. You see, there was this project called E.E.L, which aimed to create Octarians bred for battle and I…"

Eight hesitated for a moment, she was just a bit nervous, there was still a tiny chance that maybe they wouldn't like her anymore.

"...I am the first Octoling they created."

Eight scanned the faces of everyone present.

They looked as if they were expecting Eight to go on.

The only noticeable thing was Neon whispering something to Sky.

"Uhh… Go on." Bough said

Eight wasn't sure what else to say, she expected more of a reaction to this.

"I'm not a normal Octoling, I wasn't born, I was made in a lab! Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Uhh well."

Everyone present exchanged glances.

"It just means you're a little different, but that's normal." Marina said.

"R-really? So the fact that I came from a glass tube doesn't bother any of you?"

"Not at all!" Neon exclaimed "Actually, I think it's kinda cool! So that means you are like... a living weapon or something?!" She skipped up close to Eight and began poking at her with a curious expression on her face.

"No" Inker cut in "Eight is an Octoling, just like Marina and Victoria. Right?" He turned to Marina and Victoria for further confirmation.

"Yes, yes she is. Where you come from doesn't matter." Victoria replied

"You see? I told you they wouldn't mind." Inker said.

Eight looked around, nobody disagreed, it was just as Inker said, finding out that she came from a vat didn't make a difference.

In the end, she was still their friend, Agent 8.

"Oh wait? Weren't you also trying to find your real name as well?" Neon recalled

"Right, uhh, I don't think I ever had a name. Ophelia used to call me Alicia, but that was just to fool me into following her…"

Eight thought about it for a moment. She never had a problem with being called Eight, she was just curious as to who she was before she woke up in that metro.

"You know what? I think I've gotten used to being called Eight. Yeah that will do. From now on I'll introduce myself as Eight without any second thoughts."

"Alright! Well then, what now? Oh I know! By the time we get back to Inkopolis it will be late, but a safe return like this calls for celebration! Who's up for a late night round of turf wars?!" Neon asked.

'Ahh, I'll have to sit out then, I'm pretty beat." Inker said, still somewhat tired from his desperate defense of Eight.

"Do you only think of Turf Wars? There are other ways to celebrate you know?" Sky countered

"Well we should get back to Inkopolis first, I need to check on Marie and see if she's gotten Callie back again." Bough added

"Sounds like a plan, are you coming too Victoria?" Kal asked

"Well I am free at the moment.. Sure, let's go." Victoria replied.

Eight's background reveal hadn't changed anything, everyone was happy that she was safe and they were already going back to their usual habits.

Eight smiled, she could already picture the fun and rowdy atmosphere once they had returned to Inkopolis.

A wild bash in the city of colour.

Everyday was so fun, it wasn't always relaxed or quiet, but it was fun.

Now that Eight wasn't left worrying and wondering about her past she could properly enjoy it all.

Besides, she had no one else to give her purpose anymore, so that just meant she was free to give herself a reason to live.

And that reason was none other than Inkopolis, her promised land.

"Alright everyone! Let's head home to Inkopolis!"


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**Inkopolis**

Last night following Neon's suggestion, the group celebrated Eight's safe return.

The next day Eight was up late, at least by Octarian standards, but by Inkopolis standards waking up at 10 wasn't all that bad.

Eight woke up, stretched, washed and got ready for the day.

Of course she didn't have anything planned yet.

She left her apartment, greeting a few neighbours in the lobby as she exited the building.

Everyone looked happy to start their days, Eight didn't know any of them very well, but she was still glad to see how cheerful everyone was in Inkopolis. Good thing she didn't end up staying in Octo Canyon with Ophelia.

Why did she even consider that in the first place?

'_Oh right, the whole purpose thing… I made such a big deal out of it…'_

Eight recalled everything Ophelia had revealed once she had dropped her act of kindness.

Apparently the Octarians she created were made to serve whatever purpose she programmed them for. Perhaps that is why Eight made such a big deal out of finding a new purpose once she had finished with the Deepsea Metro.

Or maybe it was just something normal for all creatures, after all Eight was given the ability to think for herself, she wasn't like those other experiments who could only do as Ophelia said.

Eight shrugged _'Oh well, the past remains the past, I want to live for the good times in Inkopolis, so I'll do just that.'_

Today was just going to be a normal day, everyone was already doing their own things.

Kal had to do some runs for Grizzco and Sky had translator work.

As for Neon she was always playing turf wars, but that's because she had both sponsors and a very high rank, so she could make much more than the average Inkling just by playing anyways.

Off the Hook was off recording in their studio too, leaving just Eight on her own.

She used to spend a lot of time training for C.Q Cumber's tests, but now those were all done and Eight had no more reason to visit the metro.

Well, now she could either play ranked battles and earn a living with that, or find another job.

For now, Eight set those thoughts to the side as she spotted a tired looking Inker, walking casually down the street and yawning.

She waved over to him and walked up, only to see that he was clearly tired as black lines were starting to form under his eyes.

"Couldn't sleep last night?" Eight asked

Inker nodded "Barely slept at all, something Ophelia said kept bothering me, so I was up before five and went back to Octo Valley this morning."

Something was bothering Inker?

Since he and the others helped her when her past was bothering her, it was only right for her to hear what was bothering Inker.

Eight asked him to explain.

"Well, I remember Ophelia saying something like 'Did you think that just cause I'm not under Octavio's control, that I's suck up to you Inklings?' For some reason I can't get that out of my head. So I went back this morning and questioned Ophelia with the help of Lynn and Victoria." Inker explained

Up to now, the Octarians who heard the Calamari Inkantation either stayed with Octavio of their own volition or moved to either New Octopolis or Inkopolis.

But in Ophelia's case she did neither of those.

"Ophelia told us her backstory with Project E.E.L in order to stall, you remember how she shamelessly admitted to murdering her own friend shortly after hearing the Calamari Inkantation?" Inker asked

"Yes"

Eight remembered it clearly, after all she had been paying close attention as she was very eager to learn more about herself.

"Wait? Do you think that maybe the Calamari Inkantation is to blame for how Ophelia turned out?" Eight asked

"I'm not sure." Inker replied "All I know is, Ophelia became much more ambitious and unstable after hearing the Calamari Inkantation. That's why I went back to Octo Valley so early, I just had to speak with her one more time and clear things up."

"Well then, what did she say?" Eight was curious too.

"Not much, she is still claiming that she actually regrets everything and wants to be let out as soon as possible, though I don't believe her one bit."

"That's it? Well I wouldn't be so quick to trust her either, not anymore at least."

"But she also did confirm my suspicions, it was only after being freed from Octavio's control, that Ophelia started to get even more ambitious, believing her success with Project E.E.L made her the smartest being in the world. That's probably why she had no problem with murdering Alicia and disposing of you."

Inker looked worried, Eight could probably guess as to why, she had come to know him quite well after all.

"You're wondering if it might have been a bad idea to spread the Calamari Inkantation everywhere?"

Inker nodded

"Don't worry, sure there might be a few bad eggs, but the Inkantation has helped hundreds, no thousands of other Octarians, just look at New Octopolis? Or at the Octolings hanging around Inkopolis?"

"Well yeah but, I can't help but worry a bit."

"Don't be such a worrywart, if something pops up we can deal with it! That's our job as Agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

"Right."

Maybe Inker was still tired, so he was worrying a bit too much.

"If that's all, you should probably get some rest now." Eight suggested

"Well there was one more thing." Inker replied "Ophelia explained that the reason you came to life while all her previous experiments failed, was because her previous experiments had only one directive: 'serve the Octarian Army' that of course, didn't include any sort of natural instincts and since they weren't allowed to learn, they could never figure out how to even breathe. Alicia found a way around that when she gave you the ability to learn, live and adapt. So if you are wondering why you turned out so well, that was it."

"Huh." Eight never questioned why she was the first successful experiment, but by now it didn't really matter to her anymore.

"Well I guess that's good to know, but like you said it doesn't matter where I come from. After all that's said I am still an Octoling. Anyways you should probably go get some sleep, or at least get a coffee, you look like an owl with those bags under your eyes." Eight said.

"Sure, I'll do that. See you around Eight." Inker waved goodbye for now and left the Square.

Eight was left to herself for now, but it didn't bother her.

There was so much to do in Inkopolis.

Maybe she would run into Neon while playing ranked battles.

Or maybe she would go to work at Grizzco like Kal.

Perhaps she could even end up as an idol like Off the Hook or the Squid Sisters.

The possibilities were limitless, there was no reason to turn back now. This was her place, her promised land.

Eight had tied up all the loose ends from her past and was satisfied moving on from here.

Though sometimes she would look back and think of Octo Canyon, Project E.E.L, Ophelia, the Deepsea Metro, Telephone and C.Q Cumber.

Everything she had been through that had made her who she was today. So it really didn't matter where she came from.

No matter what happens, she will always be Agent Eight of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

* * *

**A/N: **That's it for this story, I never planned it to be as long as Old Hatreds and I doubt I could write another story of such length. Ever since I was still writing the earlier chapters of Old Hatreds, I noticed how the character creation screen for Agent 8 featured Eight floating in a pool of green liquid, since then this story idea slowly made its way into my head. That's why I hopped into this story not long after finishing Old Hatreds.  
Well now that this is done I think it will be a while before I start another story, until then, see you around everyone.

Thank you for reading Splatoon: A Friend In Need


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